HOG Files
by TheShapeshifter100
Summary: Information and samples from the Human Order of Guardians data base. Includes Descendants and Immortal information and isolated incidents. May also contain some personal information and events surrounding Jackie Davies, each one written with her permission, of course ;)
1. A Letter from Jackie

Hey

Well, I wasn't keen on getting all of this written down, sensitive stuff you know? Not just for HOG, but for me as well. 

However, after reading quite a bit of Rick Riodern's work, I decided that it was a good idea. We're still having trouble finding new Descendants, so I thought this could help get the word out. So I pulled aside a Descendant of Sandman and we got to work. 

(That would be me, TheShapeshifter100, hi!) 

I can't tell you if any of this was real, or if any of Mr. Riodern's work was real, although it would explain a few things if that were the case. 

We're still looking for Descendants, but before you think about joining us, trust me you have a choice, think on this. 

It can be dangerous. You might be lucky and have no conflict during your time with us, or you get be getting into battles with the Descendants of Pitch and Black Furs every other week. 

Most likely you won't die. There's a rule that Descendants can't kill each other unless war has been declared or you want to declare war. That isn't likely to happen, but accidents do. 

Also, we aren't heroes. What we do isn't about saving the world, it's just stopping the world we have from becoming a little darker. So if you're after world saving, tough, you won't find that here. 

If you're one of us, then you'll know. If you don't know, then I suggest you abide by one rule we promote above all others. 

Believe.


	2. Descendants of Jack Frost Information

Signature colour-pale blue

Signature weapon- Staff

Symbol-Eight sided Snowflake

Core body temperature is between 20-10 degrees Celsius. Around 20 when not emitting or controlling ice, decreasing when they are using ice. Skin temperature on average 13 degrees normally, with extremities such as nose, feet, ears and fingers going below ten.  
>When using their power it goes down to around 3 or 0 degrees Celsius.<p>

As a result their enzymes have adapted to have their optimum temperature to roughly 20 degrees. This is only shown in Descendants, normal descendants have a normal enzyme optimum temperature.

It is instinct for many Descendants of Frost to freeze water when they come into contact with it. This doesn't happen if the liquid goes straight into the mouth without touching the lips. Typically blood does not freeze as it is warmer and thicker than drinking water, it will freeze eventually, but usually the injury is dealt with or protected before the blood gets a chance to freeze.

All Descendants have the potential to use both ice and wind in their genes, but often only one is expressed unless the correct conditions are met. These conditions can occur in times of extreme stress or having physical contact with Jack's staff. In this context Jack's staff is a conduit for his power rather than the source, so his Descendants can use it to some extent.

If Wind likes them, then they can use Wind to travel around whether or not they can control air. This is an extremely rare privilege, one that not even Jackie has.

Those who control ice do so by drawing water from the air and freezing it, or by utilising already existing ice snow and frost.

They are descended from Jack's sister and any possible cousins he may have had. Most Descendants share similarities to Jack's appearance before he died, but occasionally you see a Descendant of Jack Frost with pale blonde hair and blue eyes.

You are unlikely to find a Descendant of Jack Frost anywhere near the equator, their family lines sticking to the Northern Hemisphere. Some are found south of the equator, very far south. This is rare however.

**The first section I'm afraid won't really come into play until 'Don't Fear the Reaper' and that holds true for all the Descendant Information sections. The signature weapon thing doesn't really come up now that I think about it, but it is implied, so, yeah.**


	3. Descendants of Bunnymund Information

Signature colour-green

Signature weapon-boomerang

Symbol-egg patterned with rings. 

Normal core body temperature, but a slightly higher metabolism due to increased athletic ability. 

All have increased athletic ability and heightened senses, all of which come from their Pooka heritage. Because Bunnymund has access to magic the Descendants also have access to this. It manifests in the form of flora and geo kinesis. As with the Descendants of Jack Frost all Descendants of Bunnymund have the genetic potential to use these powers, however if they only have access to one or none of these powers normally then it only occurs in times of extreme stress. 

Only those with geo kinesis have access to the Tunnels, however entrances to the Tunnels can be used to by anyone as long as they are already open. 

All have a connection to the time stream. Not enough to travel through it, but enough to know when time has been messed with. 

No one knows for sure the exact relation the Descendants have to Bunnymund. One story that is popular among the lines of Descendants were all of them are Descendants, (such as the Osbourne line) state that when Bunnymund shaped the earth from an egg shape to the shape it is today to prevent it from crashing into the sun, a piece of magic was left deep within a newly opened cave in Australia, unintentionally of course. It is said that the ancestors of the Descendants of Bunnymund came across this stone, and from there the stories differ, some say the ancestors touched a rock that contained the power, others say that what we know to be rabbits now (as they are not native in Australia) appeared from nowhere and passed on the power, and others say a ghostly Pooka appeared and passed on the power in a shower of moonlight. 

No one can agree on the story, but it is agreed that the Descendants of Bunnymund are among the oldest Descendants. 

There are no defined morphological traits with the Descendants of Bunnymund, making them one of the hardest set of Descendants to identify at a glance. The only key feature is that they all somehow have an Australian accent, even those who have never lived in Australia. 

Most of the Descendants live in Australia, but those who don't appear to be comfortable in any climate. As comfortable as a normal human anyway. 

They are among the most numerous Descendants.


	4. Descendants of Toothiana Information

Signature colour-purple 

Signature weapon-none, most use swords 

Symbol-Canine (tooth) 

The most obvious trait for the Descendants of Toothiana is their wings. Most common in the 21st Century are the insect like wings with the feathered, bird like wings being the minority. This wasn't always the case however, Toothiana had feathered wings in the past, and while she had them so did all of her Descendants, they made the transition from feathers to membrane at roughly the same time. 

They have a slightly higher body temperature than normal humans, their core temperature being closer to 40 degrees Celsius. As with the Descendants of Jack Frost their enzymes have adapted their optimum temperature to match them and it only occurs in Descendants. 

In order to fly they have highly adapted back, shoulder and chest muscles and have a respiratory system similar to that of a birds. Complete with air sacs and taking two breaths for the air to completely go through the lungs. This makes them the most biologically different among the HOG Descendants. 

All possess a photographic memory and an uncanny knack for learning languages. The 'most powerful' are usually determined by those with the best memory, the most skilled flyers and the best knack for languages, as a result Heads can converse in almost all the languages present on Earth at the time. 

Because of their photographic memory and general enthusiasm for teeth, many Descendants of Toothiana hold positions in the medical field or other scientific fields. They also make great record keepers as they rarely forget a fact. 

Descendants of Toothiana cannot open Tooth Boxes; that remains something only Toothiana, her Mini Fairies and the owners of the Tooth Box can do. Descendants can however understand Mini Fairies. 

It is believed that they are descended from Tooth's father, Haroom, side of the family.  
>Other physical traits include; tall stature with broad shoulders and dark hair. <p>

They have no geographic preference.

**I only have a basic understanding of an avian respiratory system, so for anyone who knows in greater detail how it works, sorry for probably butchering it. I also understand that insects have a different respiratory system to mammals and birds, but I understand that even less, and it just didn't make sense for humans with wings to have an insect's respiratory system anyway.**


	5. Descendants of Sandman Information

Signature colour-yellow 

Signature weapon-none 

Symbol-five pointed star 

Every Descendant of Sandman has the ability to produce and manipulate Dream Sand. It however does take a lot of concentration for them to form an actual dream, and even then it takes more than one of them to do so. This is because unlike Sandman, each grain of sand has the potential for a good dream, rather than actually containing a dream. 

They can use their power to make people fall asleep, but they have no control over what they dream most of the time. They cannot make themselves fall asleep with their own power, however they have been known to occasionally fall asleep at random. 

While it is assumed the Sandman did indeed have a family, it is not believed that is why there are Descendants. Sandman crashed as a Star Captain, possibly the only one left, so the chance of any other Star Captains reaching Earth is minimal. 

The main theory is that when the Sandman crashed on earth, tiny pieces of debris made their way towards ordinary people, who are the ancestors to the Descendants of Sandman. 

They've been around roughly as long as the Descendants of Bunnymund, but unlike the Descendants of Bunnymund they have shared physical traits; short with blonde hair. They often possess an excellent imagination, but there are exceptions. 

They can use the sand to form anything and their imagination combined with the Descendants of North's inventing prowess has resulted in HOG having technology that's slightly ahead of the early 21st Century. 

They have no geographic preference.


	6. Descendants of Pitch Information

Signature colour-black 

Signature weapon-none 

Symbol-none 

The Descendants of Pitch have similar powers to the Descendants of Sandman, with some having the ability to manipulate and travel through shadows. However the shadow powers do not have the same versatility as their Nightmare Sand abilities, being limited to drawing shadows around them and travelling through them. 

Not all of them can manipulate Nightmare sand and shadows, the same thing with the Descendants of Bunnymund and Jack Frost applying here. Pitch himself did not have access to Nightmare Sand when he first started out, having gained the power between his defeats at the hands of the Guardians. His Descendants were born with an innate ability to manipulate it while Pitch was still learning, making them more skilled with it than their ancestor for a long time. 

However, it does take around half a dozen Descendants of Pitch to form a single Nightmare. 

It has been said in the past that the Descendants of Pitch can sense fear, and like their ancestor, can gain strength from it. This was confirmed by Penelope, Descendant of Pitch, who also claimed it also felt good to gain strength from fear, and that it had a similar sensation to that of a sugar rush. 

There isn't a set physical appearance, although most seem to have dark or black hair. 

It is slightly easier to determine Pitch's Descendant's origin than the Descendants of Sandman, as a member of Pitch's family appear in the spirit profile files; Mother Nature. Additions from Penelope suggest that his Descendants actually came about in a similar manner to the Descendants of Sandman. When Pitch initially arrived on earth and was held against the rock by Nightlight, small parts of his power scattered, finding people that would suit the power, and such the Descendants of Pitch came to be. 

This is however not properly confirmed as Penelope was unsure of the story's credibility. 

They are not Descended from Mother Nature, although there are Descendants of Mother Nature. Some lines contain traits from both Pitch and Mother Nature, indicating that the powers were diverted to the same line. 

The organisation of the Descendants differs from HOG, the Descendants of Pitch work in much larger groups, with groups across their respective landmass working in sync. 

Whenever Pitch is active, the Descendants are not far behind. This is usually because Pitch contacts and utilises his Descendants to his advantage. He however does not see them as family, as the line (if it is a genetic line) is barely recognisable and they are mortal, while Pitch isn't. Therefore he distances himself from them, seeing them as more of a set of minions at worst and an army at best. 

They have no geographic preference.


	7. Easter Egg

It was mild, fine by me.

There had been a mild drizzle earlier this morning, but that cleared now. I was still wearing my raincoat just in case.

I was in the park with Jamie and his friends. Pippa, Monty, Cupcake (seriously, what kind of name is that?) Claude and Caleb.

I wasn't sure I wanted to be here. I would prefer being inside in my room reading or doodling, something like that.

So I was standing by the picnic benches with Jamie's mum and Sophie, watching the kids run around with baskets.

Honestly, it made my heart hurt.

Ever since that incident with Jamie I'd been thinking more and more about my brother, I'd even pulled out that homemade necklace he gave me.

Danny was always really enthusiastic about everything. Things involving the Guardians especially, so naturally he loved Easter as well. Watching Jamie and the others running around looking for eggs reminded me of him so much it hurt.

Sophie was annoyed that her mum wouldn't let her find any more eggs with her brother. She kept on tugging on her mum's trouser leg saying pleadingly "hop?"

Mrs Bennett would then shake her head and say, "No Soph, you've got to save some for the other kids."

I'd seen Sophie's egg, and after hearing a story from Jack, found very easy to believe that Bunnymund had put that egg there especially for her.

It was a beautiful egg as well, dark green band fading into pale green further up the egg. Pink flowers and bluebells were delicately painted on the green background.

"Are you alright Jackie?" asked Mrs Bennett, giving me a gentle nudge in the arm. I ignored the blossom of uncomfortable warmth and shrugged.

"Come on, I won't tell anyone."

Sometimes Mrs Bennett could be a lot like Jamie, they had the same kind of earnest honesty. They honestly cared and wanted to help. I can't say I knew her all that well, but I certainly trusted her.

"It's... it's Danny."

Mrs Bennett nodded, understanding. "I remember watching you two. Energetic little guy."

"Yeah."

She gave me a gentle push on the shoulder, almost shoving me off the bench.

"Go on. Go find an egg. It'll cheer you up."

"No, I'm good."

"Jackie." Mrs Bennett levelled her gaze at me. "When was the last time you went hunting for Easter eggs?"

"Erm, eight years ago."

"Exactly. I know what happened to Jamie really upset you, I know I was scared when I heard what happened, I dread to think what was going through your head."

I nodded, looking at me my feet.

"But Jamie really likes you. He tends to mention you and Jack Frost in the same sentence! And you know how obsessed he is with him."

I had to smile at that. If only Mrs Bennett knew why.

"So don't disappoint him. Go find an egg."

"Fine fine." I said, getting up and wandering over to the bushes, scanning them half heartedly. I knew Bunnymund put a lot of effort into today, but I no longer saw the point. Right now I was just humouring Mrs Bennett. Why an egg anyway? How do you put an egg and a rabbit together to get Easter?

"Jackie!"

I looked up to see Jamie waving me over to a tree. He and his friends were clustered around the bottom, looking up at an egg sitting quite high up in the branches.

_What were you thinking Bunnymund? Some poor kid's going to get hurt trying to climb that._

I sighed and ran over to see what they wanted.

"Jackie, you're tall..." Started Jamie and I could see where this was going. I was easily the tallest there, even standing over Cupcake, even though I was only five foot four.

"Alright, I'll get the flipping egg." I said, taking off my coat so it wouldn't get in the way. "Stand back."

The kids parted as I assessed the tree. The nearest branches were easily above most kids arm reach, which again confused me. Why on earth would Bunnymund put an egg this out of the way?

I took a run up to pushed myself up the tree, just grabbing onto the branches. From here most wouldn't have the upper body strength to pull themselves up, and I wasn't sure I had it either.

After checking that no one else was looking I allowed frost to form around my feet, essentially sticking myself to the tree. Using them like those sticky pads you see in spy films I moved my feet up until I could get onto that branch.

The egg was still a few branches up, so I began climbing up to get to it, several branches threatening to knock my glasses off.

Finally I got to the eggs level and I looked across at where it was. It was right on the edge of the branch, sitting snugly in a fork in the twigs. The egg itself was pale blue, with some dark blue and white accents. It was kinda pretty, even if it was in precarious spot.

"Seriously Bunnymund? Some poor kid could have broken their neck trying to get this." I muttered.

I shuffled along the branch, holding onto the one above for support. The wood creaked and groaned beneath my feet and the branch began to bend alarmingly from my weight.

"Be careful Jackie!" Called up Jamie and I made the mistake of looking down.

The ground swam beneath me and I felt a little sick. I groaned and looked away, instead focusing on the blasted egg. That little thing was not worth all of this effort!

"If I fall off I'm going to find the nearest rabbit and strangle it." I muttered, and began shuffling along again.

Finally it was within reach and I bent down to get it. Once it was safely in my grip I started to move back, when the branch decided that it couldn't take my weight any longer.

There was a cracking noise and I grabbed onto the branch above me with my free hand as the branch I was standing on snapped.

Great. Just great. I thought as I watched the branch fall. Now how am I going to get back without breaking my neck?

"Are you alright Jackie?"

"Never better!" I called back down at Jamie, getting more and more irritated with the whole thing.

I carefully put the egg between my teeth and began moving hand over hand back to the tree trunk. From there it was easy.

I dropped down onto the ground and the kids erupted into cheers as I spat out the egg. In a stupid moment I decided to hold it aloft like a trophy. Not much of a trophy in my opinion, but if you looked at these kids you'd think I'd won the Olympics or something. Their enthusiasm was infectious though, and I couldn't help but grin as well.

They insisted I kept the egg, since I hadn't found any and I'd done all of the work. Shaking my head I retrieved my coat and walked back over to Mrs Bennett, still holding the egg. She'd clearly been watching the whole thing as her mouth was hanging open and her face was a little pale.

"I got an egg!" I declared, laughing despite myself. "Happy now?"

**Hey! First one shot! As you can tell this actually takes place in the first arc, but anyway.**

**My plan with these is to try and upload the existing one shots in chronological order, how well that goes depends on how many more one shots pop into my head or get requested, because I'm open to requests.**


	8. Training

"...I'm not seeing the point."

Billy folded his arms and looked me up and down. 

"I have powers, and that's not going to go away, so what's the point of learning to use weapons?" I asked, regarding the various weapons that the other members of the Burgess Branch were using. 

"One thing ya gotta know about the world you're going into." Said Billy, serious for once. "Expect the unexpected." 

"Never liked that phrase." I grumbled. "What am I expecting exactly? Anything to happen? Then why not say 'be prepared for anything'?" 

"My point still stands kid. You are going to learn with several different weapons, just in case of the unlikely occurrence of you losing or not bein' able to you your powers. Understood?" 

"...Fine, okay." 

"Good, then let's get started." 

Billy walked over to the weapons store, reached in, and pulled out a wooden sword. 

"Catch." 

I caught it just fine, and just stared at it. I could understand why I was being given the practice sword and not a real sword, but I'd fought off Descendants of Pitch on my own. I could handle a proper weapon! 

Billy seemed to sense my train of thought. 

"If you wanna try a proper sword, be my guest." He gestured to the long sword behind him. 

I strode over and lifted it off its rack. 

And almost dropped it. 

The tip thudded against the ground as I tried to lift it, but it was so heavy! I couldn't even get it above my hips. 

"Properly forged swords are heavy kiddo." I scowled at the nickname but Billy continued. "You might be half decent in a fight, but your upper body strength is pathetic. You have to train." 

"Fine." I handed the sword back to Billy, which he put back in the rack with ease. 

"Good, now pick up the wooden sword and I'll start teachin' you the basics." 

I grabbed the wooden sword from where I'd dropped it on the floor. 

"After a while I'll teach you how to use different swords." Explained Billy. "And you'll probably only use 'em if you have no other weapon, so not training with a balanced sword will do you some good." 

"Why are you telling me all this now?" 

"You've got a good academic mind kiddo. You'll remember most of this, while you're payin' attention. Now, to actual fightin'." 

Billy stood with his practice sword in both hands, directly opposite me. 

"There's a lot of leg work here. Arm strength is really only necessary to lift the sword, when it comes to defence and offence, a good technique and ability to parry rather than block is all you need." 

"Aren't there different ways of doing it? With different swords?" 

"Yeah, and I'll teach you as many as can, because the idea here is not to train you with a weapon to use forever. It's to teach you how to adapt to use any blade you might need. So no flashy stuff, only basics." 

"To start," Billy drew his sword up. "You want your sword to follow your back leg for defence, so if you watch me." 

Billy moved his left leg back, drawing his sword close to his body with the tip still pointing at me. 

"This is a move originating from China, the left parry. You try." 

I nodded and pulled my left back so that it was bent, putting a lot of my weight on it as I drew up my sword to a hopefully similar position. 

"Good, you just need to turn the blade a little." Billy went over and adjusted it slightly, so the sword edge was vertical. "There we go. Again!" 

The next few hours Billy put through the same four moves so many times I getting incredibly bored. He, however, wasn't satisfied until I could parry his strike without thinking, and after three hours, I could. 

"Good work." He said as the others collected their water after some hard training from Nigel. "We'll expand on this next week. In that time I want you to practice with anything you've got lying around. A broom, a stick, whatever." 

I resisted the urge to groan, I normally like homework, but after three hours, I thought my arms were going to drop off. 

Billy seemed to notice this however. "There's a phrase I heard somewhere. 'The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle' That's the point we're trying to get to kiddo. The easier it comes to ya when you train, when your life is actually in danger then it should be second nature. Got it?" 

"Yeah, I got it." 

"Good. See ya next week."


	9. Workshop

I looked down at the sheet of paper again, then back up at the rocks I was facing. Alfred was starting what the Heads called 'workshops', where Descendants got together to practice their powers. Alfred had never hosted one, and all the Descendants of Frost were going to be there. 

I hadn't seen them since the big HOG meeting in March, and it was now October. I wonder if they'd changed all that much. 

I ran their names through my head. There was Alfred, Chris, Stephen and Mary, I'd seen them at the base and fought alongside the latter three. There were the twins James and Jacob, Graham, Alice and Rachel. 

I looked at the sheet again, which just said to be by your nearest Tunnel opening at ten AM. We hadn't closed the Tunnels leading to the base, to be honest I think the Heads just didn't know what to do with it now, so it was just there. 

I put the piece of paper in my jeans pocket and folded my arms, hearing the rustley, crackly noise of my raincoat. I flicked my arm up to look at my watch, it was right on ten. 

I let out a breath and kicked at leaves in boredom, where were they? 

As soon as that thought went through my mind, something thudded into my shoulder. 

I let out a sigh through my nose and turned to see the twins, James and Jacob, standing behind me. The pair had the typical dark hair, dark eyes and pointed chin, however they had a more distinct, ski slope nose and high arching eyebrows. They were identical, like Nigel and Alec, but they seemed to more joined at the hip than the latter pair. 

One of them had a snowball hovering above his hand and I rolled my eyes. 

"Really?" 

"Ah, come on. Lighten up!" said the one with the snowball. Without warning he flung it at me and I ducked underneath it, allowing it splatter against the tree behind me. 

"Look, hadn't we better go, we're going to be late!" 

"Alright." They chimed together in disappointment. One tapped his foot against the ground to form the Tunnel. 

"Race you there!" They said at the same time and they shot down it on ice. 

"Hey!" I called down, before racing after them. 

I quickly caught up on my skates, much to their shock. 

"You'll have to go faster than that!" I called as I shot past them. 

I heard them conferring behind me and pretty soon they were level with me. 

"See ya!" They called and shot past me. I poured my power into my skates and shot past them. 

"See you indeed!" 

The end of the Tunnel was coming up and I held out my hand to pass through it. We got out the other side, but the twins hadn't stopped. They went up on their ice paths and I followed them, trying to work out where they were going. 

They shot through another Tunnel and once we were in I shot straight past them again. I was getting tired, so from there it became a neck and neck race to see who would get exhausted first. 

We shot out of the Tunnel and skidded to a halt, panting. 

"You, are, good." Panted one of the twins. 

"Not, bad, yourselves." I looked up to see that we were out in the middle of nowhere. Pine trees towered above us and there were patches of snow on the ground. A lake stood behind the ten of us, flat calm and shining like a mirror. I couldn't even tell what country we were in, although since Alfred was Scottish I assumed we were in Scotland. 

"Jackie!" 

Before I could react I felt something small launch itself at my back and wrap their arms around my shoulders. Only the good natured laughter stopped my sending an ice blast back there. 

"What the-?" 

Giggling in my ear told me who was now clinging to my back. 

"...Alice?" 

"Yay!" She cried in a voice I'm sure she was just putting on for laughs. I felt her slip down a bit, and caught her legs before her arms could strangle me. 

"Whoah, easy there." 

I heard her mother, Rachel, still laughing. 

"What's so funny?" 

"I don't think I've seen her do that to anyone." Said Rachel between laughs. 

"Mum!" Cried Alice indigently, while I sighed slightly, not sure whether to be annoyed or flattered. 

"Now we're all here." I heard a familiar Scottish voice say. "How about we get started?" 

I turned to see Alfred standing behind us, and my face split into a smile. 

"Alfred!" 

"Long time no see lass." He looked the same as ever. "So, let's get to training." 

"No, I want to stay on Jackie." Declared Alice from my behind my head. 

"You're not going to be able practice from my back." I said, trying to turn my head to face her, but failing. 

"Come on monkey. We're not here to mess around." Said Rachel, finally taking Alice off my back. She tried clinging to my shoulders, even my hair, but Rachel expertly peeled off her fingers off. 

"Mum!" 

"We're here to practice ours powers, not make Jackie a human climbing frame." 

"Okay..." 

I heard sniggering and I sent a glare at almost everyone else in the room. Some shut up, but Mary, James and Jacob just laughed harder. 

I think everyone except Stephen was here, which struck me as odd. I could understand if Rachel was here just to watch Alice, so maybe we weren't doing anything to do with wind today. 

Alfred clapped his hands together, getting our attention. "Alright, now that we're done turning Jackie into a climbing frame. How about we get down to practice?" 

Alfred crouched down and gestured to the snow around him. 

"So, could any of ye tell me how recent this snow is? Or where we are based on the consistency?" 

The other eight of us looked at each other with similar expressions of confusion, then one by one crouched down and poked the snow. 

The overall consensus was, no idea. 

Alfred poked the snow and said. "Well, I can tell you that this snow fell roughly two hours ago, and has a make up consistent with parts of Europe, specifically Germany." 

We all nodded incomprehensively, which I found frustrating. At school I was the one with the answers, and here I was just as clueless as everyone else. I managed to force the frustration down to mild irritation, but I was still annoyed. 

Alfred, not impressed by our efforts, spent the next few hours teaching us how to tell the age of snow and consistency for geography. I'd be lying if I said it was engaging, and I know the twins and Alice were bored, as they were acting up. Chris, Mary and Rachel were struggling to remain focused, it seemed that Graham and I were the only ones trying to pay attention. 

"So, now I've managed to bore ye senseless." Said Alfred after what felt like an eternity. "I expect you to remember all of this for next time, and once you've proved ye can do it, then we'll move onto the interesting stuff." 

So with a unanimous groan we were dismissed, each of us trying to retain the information we'd just been given.


	10. Jackie's Indestructable Hoodie

It had been a few months since the end of the war and things were getting better. Jack was back in Burgess for the winter and practice got underway.

I was actually planning on getting him a Christmas present this year, as we'd met too late to exchange presents last time, so now would have to do.

However, I was having trouble. What do you get a teenager who'd lived for 300 years?

We were done practicing for the night and were just sitting in the trees. I was trying to work out how to subtly ask him what he's like for Christmas, but he was also being quiet, which had me worried.

"Are you okay? You're being really quiet." I asked him, which caused him to start in surprise.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine."

"Just distracted?"

"Hmmm." He was staring back into space.

"Uh oh, that can only mean you're planning something. I thought you'd already frozen something in the Warren?"

A grin formed across Jack's face as he swung his legs from the branch, his staff across his lap.

"Ah, Kangaroo's face was hilarious!"

I chuckled and leaned back, looking at the half moon hanging in the sky above us.

"Are you doing anything for Christmas?" I asked.

"Dunno. North might put on a party like he did last year."

"Sounds good."

"Yeah, it was. What about you?"

"Probably the usual. Spend the day with my parents and spend the next few days visiting aunts and uncles. Although this year I do have a lot more people to get presents for."

"Seriously?"

"Well, yeah. I've only have to get stuff for my parents, now I've suddenly been given more friends than I know what to do with!"

Jack let out a chuckle. "Yeah, I know the feeling."

Another pause.

"Got anything good last year?" I asked, hoping to get ideas for his present.

"Better than the past few years. I hold the record on the naughty list."

I had to laugh. "What did you do to earn that?!"

"A few pranks, the odd intrusion on someone else's holiday..."

"I bet Bunnymund loved that."

"It's not just Bunny!" He protested, then admitted. "But it was him mainly."

"Was there any reason, or do you just enjoy messing with him?"

"Ah, Easter Kangaroo's easy to wind up."

There was another companionable pause, then Jack stood up on his part of the branch.

"I'd better go. Job to do, you know."

"I know. See you tomorrow."

With a grin Jack jumped into the air was caught by the wind, which carried him high into the sky. I watched him careen over the clouds as he whooped.

I sat there for a while longer, looking at the moon.

"Any idea what to get him?" I asked out loud, still gazing at the moon. I didn't get a response, but I wasn't expecting one.

I jumped down from the tree and collected my jacket from a lower hanging branch, putting on as I walked home. It was starting to get a little small for me, I'd had for a couple of years, but I'd thought I'd stopped growing by now. Looks like that wasn't the case.

My mind wandered as I walked back, the various noises of the woods fading into the background as I crunched through the snow.

My main concern was still on Jack's present, what on earth to get him? Clothes wouldn't work, and I doubted that he'd appreciate any kind of jewellery no matter how heartfelt. I knew that he saw Burgess as his home, but I had no idea where he actually lived, did he have a den someone? Did he have anywhere to put little knick knacks?

Since I didn't have the answer my present would have to be small, something that could be easily carried around if necessary. However not so small that it would get lost easily.

There was a blur of red in my vision and I was jolted from my thoughts. I turned my head to look to see a red and white tail disappear into the undergrowth; just a fox.

A fox huh?

An idea formed in my mind and a smile spread across my face. That was it!

It took a while for it to be ready. I kept on restarting because I wasn't happy with it.

It was an interesting project on its own, and it was helping with my own control, but I didn't really have the time to take my time with it.

Christmas Eve came and I was out by the lake again, my present stowed safely in a nearby tree. I had my hands in my pockets in my jeans and was kicking at the ice with nervous energy. I'd never done this before.

Jack came in for a landing and we got down to practicing as always, but I think we were both a little distracted tonight.

"Are you alright?" I ended up asking as Jack didn't seem to notice as I pulled off the technique perfectly. "You've been distracted since you got here."

Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "Well um."

He jumped up into a nearby tree, reached inside the trunk and pulled out a brightly wrapped package.

"I didn't get you anything for your birthday, so I thought..." He trailed off, holding the package out towards me.

I was left speechless, my mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out.

"I, um, thank you. Don't worry about my birthday, it's in summer after all." I said a little awkwardly as I took the present. It felt soft and a little squashy.

"I, um, I've got something for you as well."

Jack's eyebrows knitted together and his mouth formed an 'O'. He had been expecting this about as much as I had.

I carefully put Jack's present down and went up into the tree where I'd put mine.

"It isn't wrapped, but..."

My fingers wrapped around the ice figure and pulled it out of the hole in the trunk. It was small enough to fit into my fist.

I jumped down and went back over to Jack, picking up his present to me.

I held out my hand and uncurled my fist. Revealing the small ice figure of a fox.

"Merry Christmas."

Jack picked it up and spun it carefully in his hands, looking at it from every angle as a smile grew on his face.

"Wow, I, um. Thanks."

I poked at the ground with my foot and nervously shoved my glasses up my nose. "I wasn't really sure about what to get you, so, um..." Tonight was the night when neither of us knew what to say, clearly.

"No, it's really good. I like it." He said, carefully tucking the fox into his hoodie pocket.

"Thanks."

I looked down at the present in my hand. "Do you want me to open this now, or do you want me to wait until tomorrow?"

"You can open it now if you want."

I carefully pulled apart the sellotape holding the paper together. It wasn't the neatest wrapping I'd ever seen, but I doubted that Jack had had that much practice.

My eyebrows scrunched together as something pale blue came into view. What on earth...?

The last of the wrapping paper fell away and a small smile appeared on my face. It was a hoodie, a similar style to Jack's and pale blue.

"Soooo...?" Jack was rocking back and forth on his heels with nervous energy.

"It's great." I said, my smile widening. I stuffed the wrapping paper in my jeans back pocket and pulled the hoodie over my head. It was a little big, but given how my coat was starting to get small I imagined that I'd grow into this.

"I noticed that your coat was getting a bit small, I asked North to help me out with it. Apparently it won't rip."

"I'd rather not put that to the test." I said, shaking back the slightly too long sleeves. "Thanks. Really, thanks."

"Well, like I said, I felt bad about not getting you anything for your birthday."

"My birthday is on the summer solstice, I don't blame you for not being there. I certainly wasn't in the mood to celebrate."

"Really?"

"I never am, it's always too hot."

I put my hands in my new pocket, feeling the not too thick fabric. North had certainly known what he was doing when he made this, he knew I wouldn't need much in the way of cold protection.

"So, is North throwing a party this year?" I asked, remembering the last time we'd talked about Christmas.

"Yeah, dunno know how many's gonna be there." Jack put his hands in his own pocket.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something golden and shining. Looking up I could see Sandman's sand streams above my head.

"Looks like that's my cue to go home."

"Yeah, enjoy tomorrow."

"You enjoy that party."

Jack grinned and took off, neither of us really up for something like a hug. This evening had been equally awkward and heart warming enough. A hug might have brought that up to unbearable levels.

I retrieved my coat and tied the arms around my waist as fat flakes of snow fell from the sky.

I grinned and held out my hand, adding a few snowflakes to the mix around me.

I formed a small ball of snow and threw high into the air, where I flared my fingers and caused it to split. My own snowflakes began falling from the sky, but didn't last that long. That still needed work.

I went to bed with a grin on my face, my new hoodie hanging on the back of my door. This was going to be a good year, I could feel it.

**A bit of a fluff chapter time, I've still got a few to get through. On a side note, this one is important to the next arc, as it basically explains why Jackie suddenly has a hoodie.**


	11. Bullies Part One

There are many things that Tina Hawkins would never stand for, and bullying is one of them.

Tina had taken her break at the shop later than usual, so ended up walking around town as the various schools broke up for the day.

_Maybe I should pop over and see Jackie_ She thought, then shook her head. _Better not, I'll only embarrass her._

"Oi, Davies!"

Tina jerked her head up in the direction of the voice, and saw that it came from someone clearly on the lower end of the IQ spectrum and built like a football player. Tina frowned, she couldn't imagine Jackie being friends with this boy.

Her frown only increased as the familiar raincoat didn't even seem to acknowledge him. What were those two playing at?

"Going to play with your imaginary friend again!?"

Tina stopped dead still in the middle of the street, she now saw this situation for what it was, and she was not going to stand for it.

Except, Jackie didn't react. Tina couldn't see her face from here, but her walking pace didn't change, neither did the position of her shoulders. She gave no sign of even hearing the brute.

The brute's friends started to laugh as he barrelled straight through the crowd towards her.

"Don't ignore me!"

But that's exactly what she carried on doing.

The bully, having had enough, grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, making her face him.

"What have you got to say now, huh?"

Jackie didn't even blink, and Tina saw something that honestly shocked her. Jackie didn't care.

Jacqueline Davies; the girl who'd ended the war with a blast of ice, the girl who had braved a trip to the North and South Poles to save HOG, didn't care that she was getting bullied.

That didn't sit right in Tina's eyes. The Jackie she knew would be in this bully's face, either coming back with a cutting comment or just flat out threatening him. However, this version of Jackie, didn't.

"You deaf or something?" Asked the bully, before giving Jackie a shove. Jackie took the shove well, and once she was out of reach she began to walk away.

"What makes you think you can walk away from me?!" Snarled the bully, grabbing Jackie's shoulder again.

Tina had seen enough at this point, so put on a disapproving glare she usually only ever reserved for Billy, and stormed over.

"Stop right there!" She voice cut through the sounds of chatter like a knife and the bully stopped what he was doing. Everyone else stopped as well and stared, wondering where on earth this would go.

"How dare you." She said, reaching the bully. He stood at roughly the same height as Tina, but he almost seemed to quail under her gaze.

"What makes you think you can go around abusing someone in the open like that?!"

"I-I wasn't." Tina had to admit, the bully was a decent actor. "I was just trying to get my pen back."

"Don't give me that. Your teachers might fall for that act, but I certainly won't. I saw the whole thing from across the street!"

Out of the corner of her eye Tina saw Jackie stiffen, and she almost wanted to sigh. Of course what would get Jackie to react would be the fact that someone saw.

The bully on the other hand, dropped his act and his face turned into a sneer, but Tina's eye quickly saw that he was shaking slightly.

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Personal vendetta, now get out of here before I find out who your parents are."

The bully opened his mouth to laugh, then stopped when he realised that Tina was serious. He took one last glare at Jackie before taking off, his gang laughing behind him.

Tina let out the breath she didn't realise she had been holding, then noticed movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Jackie."

The young ice mover froze in place, then turned to face her.

Tina seemed to be at loss for what to say, then finally came out with something as the crowd lost interest and moved on.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Jackie shrugged. "Never came up."

Well, at least she wasn't denying that it was a problem.

Tina's stance softened. "Jackie, we're your friends, you can come to us about stuff like this."

There was a guarded look in Jackie's brown eyes that almost broke Tina's heart. She was just like the ice she wielded, seemingly see through and strong, but get close enough and you see how complex and easy it is to break.

"It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter? How so?"

"It just doesn't."

Tina paused to gather her thoughts, trying to work out the best way to approach this without scaring off the teen.

"How long has this been going on?"

It was a long shot, and to Tina's dismay, it fell short as Jackie only strengthened the wall around her.

"It doesn't matter. I'd better go home now."

Without waiting for Tina's reply Jackie turned and left, presumably heading for home. Tina stood in her wake, trying to figure out how to handle this. She wouldn't stand by as Jackie was bullied, that was for certain!

With that in mind Tina turned on her heel to approach the school, she had something to tell them.

Tina slammed the door of her house shut, letting out her frustration. The school had been less than helpful. Because she wasn't related to any of the children they had every reason to not listen to her, when they finally did there was a lot of shuffling of paper and those dreaded words.

"We'll look into it."

'_We'll look into it' Pah, they don't plan on doing anything to help the children they're supposed to be looking after!_

Tina's wings sprung out of the carefully concealed holes in her clothes out of her frustration. The membrane of the limbs twitched and shuddered in her frustration as she tore around the kitchen, sorting out her evening meal.

The result wasn't spectacular, but Tina didn't care as she ate, her mind whirring as past as her wings.

There had to be something, she wasn't going to stand by as Jackie got bullied.

A thought came to her, does her mother know? That was a good point, but possibly straying a little far into Jackie's personal life. Contacting the school was fine, but her parents, that might be pushing it.

Tina continued down this line as she ate, no longer tasting the food. Maybe she could just talk to Jackie mother. The Burgess Branch and the rest of the Davies clan didn't exactly get along, after they'd put their daughter into some harrowing and even life threatening situations.

_Just a talk, to smooth out relations._ Justified Tina, _and if Jackie's school life comes up, then that's just how it is._

Mrs Davies had been less than happy when she learned that it was someone from HOG on the phone.

"What now? Anything else you want to drag my daughter into? You almost got her killed!"

"That was never our intention, she came to the base under her steam. We would never have allowed an under eighteen year old to fight."

"Then why did you?!"

"Mrs Davies, I'm not saying what we did was right, and I think that now is the time to start mending bridges."

"Oh, so you think you can order me around as well?!"

"Mrs Davies, please. We don't want to have this kind of relationship with you. Believe or not we all care about your daughter-."

Tina was cut off by a snort on the other end of the line, but continued speaking regardless.

"-And we do not want to have this kind of antagonistic relationship with you. All I'm suggesting is that we meet up for a coffee somewhere."

There was a pause on the end of the line, then.

"Fine."

It was pure coincidence that they ended up in the same coffee shop where they'd gone after the meeting back in February, where Billy had gotten incredibly hyper on caffeine. The memory still made Tina smile and groan at the same time.

Mrs Davies could almost be an older version of her daughter. She wasn't as gangly and her face was more heart shaped than Jackie's angular features, but other than that...

Mrs Davies eyed Tina warily as she approached, watching as the taller woman sat down at the table.

"How are you?" Asked Tina politely, feeling the coldness rolling off this woman as though Jackie was in the room.

"Fine. How about you, Miss...?"

"Hawkins. Tina Hawkins." Tina held out her hand, which Mrs Davies warily shook. Good, she was at least willing to listen.

"So, what is this about exactly?"

"Exactly what I said over the phone, I want to smooth things out."

Tina sipped her coffee, waiting for Mrs Davies reaction.

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Well, I thought, start off with a conversation, get to know each other a little."

"I suppose we'd better get on first name terms then." Mrs Davies straightened her shoulders. "I'm Charlotte."

"Pleased to meet you Charlotte."

A few awkward seconds.

"What do you do?"

"For a living?" Tina raised a curious eyebrow. "I co run a bookshop with another member of HOG."

"Do I know it?"

"Possibly, I've seen Jackie in there a few times, even before we knew her heritage."

"Ah, you must be Bookmark." A ghost of a smile appeared on Charlotte's face. "It's one of her favourite places to go after school."

"Is that so?" Tina was also smiling. "That would explain why I see here there so often."

"Has Jackie not mentioned it to you?" Charlotte seemed honestly curious.

"No, she hasn't. We don't often talk about that kind of thing. It's mainly upcoming events and the newly introduced combat sections."

Charlotte's eyebrows went up into her fringe and Tina backpedalled.

"It's nothing serious, we never get hurt, and even if we do, both Nigel and I have First Aid experience."

"Hmmm." Charlotte still seemed unconvinced. A thought seemed to occur to the woman, and she tapped her mug nervously before saying it.

"Has Jackie ever talked to you about school?"

Tina could guess where this was going, but chose to remain oblivious.

"Not really. We've asked a couple of times, but she says she's doing fine."

"Oh, never mind then."

Tina also tapped her glass nervously, here goes nothing.

"Is this to do with Jackie getting bullied?"

Charlotte looked at Tina in shock. "How do you know about that? You said she never mentioned it."

"And she still hasn't. I saw it happen the other day."

Charlotte's expression softened and she sighed.

"It doesn't surprise me."

"You mean you knew about this?!"

"Of course I did. I'm her mother. It's just that school is useless at dealing with them."

Charlotte looked down at her coffee. "I just wish she'd talk to me about it. Or anyone. I thought she'd tell you lot at least. She seems to think the world of you."

There was no trace of bitterness in Charlotte's voice as she described HOG.

"Well, she's certainly learning to relax in meetings. She and Billy get on like a house on fire."

The fire analogy brought a smile to Charlotte's face. "So I've heard, did they freeze some of the equipment by any chance?"

The small smile disappeared from Tina's face as she remembered that incident. The pair of troublemakers hadn't even looked sheepish as Tina and Nigel told them off, the two youngest members were becoming as thick as thieve when it came to practical jokes.

"They didn't even look ashamed, they just laughed. I never thought Jackie would turn out to be a prankster."

"Oh you should have seen her when she was younger. She was always getting Daniel to pull pranks with her. You couldn't step into a room without worrying that you were going to slip on a patch of ice."

Tina could visualise it, and her smile joined Charlottes.

Charlotte for a moment stopped smiling and looked at Tina critically.

"You've done her a world of good, you know."

"Even though we've almost got her killed?" Tina tried making a joke, and it fell flat as Charlotte's face hardened.

"Aside from that. She never really seemed to recover from Daniel's death, and she never made friends her own age. Still hasn't."

Charlotte looked Tina straight in the eyes. "Even so, I can say that you, Jamie and Jack have changed her. She's not just surviving any more. She's living."

"Very poetic of you."

"It's the most accurate way of describing what's happened. I'd almost forgotten what it looked like to see her smile."

"I didn't realise that it was that bad."

"I'm exaggerating, but not by much."

Charlotte tapped her mug again, a thought having come to her.

"You say you saw her getting bullied the other day, what happened?"

Tina frowned and put down her mug. "It was the strangest thing, this boy was shouting at her, pushing her, and she took in stride, it was almost as if she didn't care."

Charlotte nodded. "That doesn't surprise me. It was how some actually concerned teachers said it was like."

"I wasn't going to stand by and watch however." Tina continued. "Once he started becoming physical I stepped in and told him off. Once I was down I noticed that Jackie was trying to slip away, when I called her out on it she said that it didn't matter and walked away."

"Hmmm, Jackie never did like anyone fighting her battles for her." Mused Charlotte. "When I did tell the school she, well, she didn't say anything, but she was leaving frosty imprints on the chair when I told her."

"So that's it then, she acted coldly because she was angry that I got involved?"

"Possibly, you'll have to ask her yourself. There are times where I can't tell what's going on inside her head."

"I'll ask her next time I can get her alone." Said Tina, definitely not planning on letting the matter drop with the teenager.

The watch on Charlotte's wrist beeped and she looked at it, sighing.

"Well, I have to go." She said standing up. "It was nice talking with you Tina."

"It was nice talking to you too Charlotte. I hope we can do something like this again."

"You know what, me too."

Tina's chance appeared at the next meeting.

Nigel was the most experienced with self defence and swordsmanship, so he led the sessions, strangely with Billy. The Australian also had a lot of experience in fighting, having come from a long line of accomplished fighters.

Once practice was over Tina quickly noticed the Jackie was lagging behind, clearly waiting for Tina to disappear before she did. Jackie even went as far as openly planning a new prank with Billy.

Tina however, was patient. After telling Sally that she needed to talk to Jackie about something, Tina stood on the other side of the door, waiting for the teenager to come through the door.

Finally she did, still in deep conversation with Billy, but Tina was undeterred.

"Jackie, a word?"

Jackie froze mid sentence and looked at Tina.

"W-well, I-I- I've got to get home."

"I'll explain to your mother. This can't wait."

"Uh oh, looks like Tina's got it in for ya kiddo." Billy nudged Jackie in the side. "Not much point fighting it, she's gonna get ya eventually. See you later."

With that Billy also left, leaving Jackie no choice but to talk to Tina. She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked up at Tina.

"I've told you, it doesn't matter."

"To you perhaps, but we care about you, and we don't want you to suffer."

"I'm not." Insisted Jackie.

"I saw that boy shoving around! Are you telling me you don't care about that?"

"Yes I am, because _he_ doesn't matter."

That threw Tina off. "What?"

"That's why I don't care. Because they're just people trying to make themselves feel better by picking on someone who they see as weaker. If they resort to that, then they don't matter in my eyes. It's their issue, not mine."

Tina blinked in surprise. There was wisdom to Jackie's words, no doubt about it. It was clear that she had been thinking on it as well.

Tina's stance softened. "Look, as you say, to you it doesn't matter, but I do have to ask; how often does it happen?"

"Every now and again."

Tina folded her arms and looked down at Jackie. "Jackie. The truth."

Jackie's shoulders slumped. "Fine, nearly every day."

"And you're sure it doesn't bother you?"

"It's a little irritating sure, but it usually only happens on the way to and from school."

_Where the bullies can't get reprimanded._

"Look, if it ever gets too much, you can talk to us you know."

"Sure." Said Jackie, but Tina wasn't convinced.

"I mean it. If you feel that it's too much, you come and talk to us. We may not be your family, but we are your friends, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

That last sentence seemed to strike a chord with Jackie, her eyes watering. Jackie looked down so Tina wouldn't see, but she didn't get there quick enough.

Tina didn't say anything, instead wrapping her arm around the teen's shoulders. Jackie stiffened under Tina's touch, whether it was from the heat or the unexpected contact Tina couldn't tell.

"There's no shame in telling people how you feel. I know it's easier said than done and it does take baby steps, but it's doable."

Jackie's shoulders seemed to tense up, then they relaxed and leaned slightly into Tina's arm. A sniff from the teen seemed to surprise the pair, but Tina didn't let it show. Instead she pulled the smaller girl into a hug and let her cry on her shoulder.

All too quickly Jackie pulled back, wiping her face roughly.

"S-sorry. I'd better go." Before Tina could say or do anything Jackie had run off.

"Baby steps Jackie." Said Tina, knowing full well the teen could hear her in the echoing corridors. "Baby steps."

She hadn't opened up like Tina had hoped, but it was a start.


	12. Bullies Part Two

Sally was interesting.

Like her ancestor, she didn't always feel the need to speak, so being so quiet helped her notice things.

Things like Jackie.

To Sally's well trained and experienced eye, she could see that the girl had built a wall around herself, a wall she wasn't even aware existed.

Sally was not the oldest in the group by any stretch, but sometimes she just knew what to do in the situation, she was one of those kinds of people.

After the incident where Jackie had almost frozen the meeting room, Sally had become a little protective of her, not enough to get in her way, but enough for her to see Jackie as the little sister she never had.

In Sally's mind, Tina was her sister, close enough to be twins, while Jackie was the kid sister who everyone looked out for.

So when Sally caught wind of Jackie being bullied, she wasn't going to stand for it. Yes she was short, but she could put on this air that made people suddenly wet themselves.

You didn't want to mess with Sally.

Sally suspected that she wasn't supposed to know, Tina had called Jackie away to talk about it in private and it wasn't as if Jackie couldn't look after herself. However, it didn't mean that Sally wasn't going to attempt something.

Sally was in position, on a bench that was directly on the school route. She had a book open in her hands, but she wasn't reading it, instead she was waiting for school to end.

The bell rang and Sally scanned the surge of teenagers leaving the high school, looking for a familiar face.

She quickly spotted Jackie, walking away at a normal walking pace. Jackie hadn't seemed to notice her, which was probably a good thing. The last thing Sally wanted Jackie to think was that they were keeping tabs on her.

Sally frowned in concern as a group of teenagers approached Jackie from behind. Sally had noticed that Jackie had never said anything about friends. She always had time for her Branch, and she never said that she had to dash to go and meet someone.

That could mean nothing, but it could mean everything.

Sally stood up from the bench as the teens put their hand on Jackie's shoulder, pulling her to stop. From here Sally couldn't hear what was being said, but when the other teen started pushing Jackie, she decided to get involved.

It was breaking a lot of rules, but Sally charging up wouldn't help anything. Someone showing up the bullies would only make things worse.

A stream of golden sand snaked its way through the crowd and wrapped itself around the legs of the bullies. A quick tug from Sally and the bullies fell to the ground, not taking Jackie with them.

While the bullies floundered Jackie took the sensible option and walked away. Sally couldn't tell if Jackie had noticed the Dream Sand, hopefully she'd just think that the bullies had had a bout of dizziness.

Sally sat back down and got back to her book, not noticed a cold presence until it was too late.

"You didn't have to do that."

Sally started and looked to her right where Jackie was standing. Sally bit back a curse, Jackie had noticed.

"Jackie-."

"Don't."

Sally blinked in surprise. Jackie could be distant, sometimes cold (if you pardon the pun) but never rude.

Sally took a good look at Jackie's face and saw something that almost scared her. Jackie was angry.

She'd been slowly letting go of her rigid emotional control around them, if you ignored extreme circumstances, but Jackie seemed to be the kind person who rarely got angry, she would just take it in her stride. It wasn't obvious, raging anger, but the look in her eyes and the clenched fist showed her quiet anger.

When Jackie spoke next, her voice was shaking slightly.

"I appreciate what you and Tina are trying to do. I really do, but you _don't_ have to."

"You mean that you don't want us to."

"It's not an issue."

Sally put her book down and regarded the teenager.

"It is an issue. I know you don't us to get involved, but you're one of us now. We protect each other."

"I don't need protecting!"

Sally jerked back in the bench. Jackie had never raised her voice like that, ever. For the first time in the time that Sally had known Jackie, cracks were appearing in her mask. Jackie looked livid.

That scared Sally.

Jackie seemed to realise the reaction she'd had on Sally and pulled back, regret leaking through the mask.

"I...Um..."

Sally stood up, having recovered. She gave Jackie a stern look and shook her head.

"You are not alone any more Jackie."

With that Sally walked off, leaving a confused Jackie in her wake.

Jackie shook her head as she walked home, scowling and muttering to herself.

"What does she mean that I'm not alone, I know that! It's not their business."

_Give over, it's not as if you'd know the difference_

Jackie winced and shook her head again; it had been just under a year since her thoughts had started to spiral like that.

Just under a year, around about when I met HOG and Jamie...

Jackie frowned, not quite able to fathom it. Was that it? HOG and Jamie had stopped that.

And Jack.

Yes, that was true. Something did feel lighter when considering those six, but for the life of her Jackie couldn't quite put her finger on exactly why.

_I care about them sure. When HOG was overrun I was scared out of my mind for them, and Jamie and Jack did stay at the lake to make sure I was okay, and they were worried after that whole thing with Pitch in Burgess._

_They care._

The conclusion hit Jackie with the speed of a bullet train, causing her to stop in her tracks.

_That's it! Is it? No, yes? I don't know..._

Still a little confused Jackie continued walking, but this time with a slight spring in her step. In her mind she made a promise to apologise to Sally at the earliest opportunity.

**If it seems like I'm rushing to upload these, it's because I am. I realised I had a day until I planned to upload Howling Shadows, and I still had a bunch of one shots to get through, so I'll try to stagger them out over tonight and tomorrow. After that it will be back to normal updating with Howling Shadows.**


	13. Nightmares

Knock knock.

Billy opened his eyes blearily, then groaned and rolled over to get back to sleep. Probably just a bird.

Knock knock knock.

Oh for...

Billy rolled over and looked at the window, and got the shock of his life.

Why on earth was Jackie at his window?

Billy thanked his lucky stars that he was at least in underwear, Jackie may be sixteen, but he wasn't going to be the one to reveal that kind of thing to her.

Billy jumped out of bed and threw open the window, letting the sticky summer air into his cool room. The teen was standing on a rail of ice outside his window, there were dark shadows under her eyes, and her breathing suggested that she had either come over as quickly as possible, or had had a serious scare.

These details were however lost to the tired Australian.

"What the hell kid? It's two in the morning!"

Jackie looked down and shuffled her feet.

"S-sorry, I wasn't thinking, um..."

Billy frowned, he knew the kid well enough to know that something was bothering her, at this late it could only be a nightmare. But why come to him? Why not her parents, or even Sally? Sally would be a better choice than him!

"Give me too seconds kiddo."

Jackie looked up as Billy retreated into his room and pulled on some clothes before gesturing for her to come in.

The pair went to the kitchen where Billy poured some milk and shoved it in Jackie's hand. Her hidden distress was made apparent when the glass began to frost over. Only now did Billy notice the other obvious signs of what was up, but decided to let Jackie say it.

"What's up?"

Jackie looked down at her milk and swilled it slightly out of nervousness.

"Hey, something must be up if you've come to me of all people."

A small smile appeared on Jackie's face.

"I, I had a nightmare."

"Yeah?" Billy leaned against the counter with his arms folded.

Jackie shook her head, not going into any more detail.

"I thought you were getting help, I know Nigel-."

"I know, but, sometimes..."

"Sometimes they happen anyway."

"Yeah."

Jackie wasn't looking up to see Billy's sympathetic face.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Jackie shrugged. "I don't want to bother you."

"You've gotten me out of bed at two in the morning, any bothering has already been done." Billy immediately realised that was the wrong thing to say, as Jackie practically drew herself inwards.

Billy let out a sigh threw his nose. He knew Jackie's situation, he'd passed by her school on his way to work and he'd seen that she walked alone, and no one greeted her at the gates, unless an insult counted. The insults never seemed to bother Jackie, and she kept herself to herself. The problem was she didn't know how to ask for help.

And help was something she clearly needed.

"_Why me?"_ Billy asked himself. "_Claire and Sally are better at this sort of thing..."_

"It was Penelope."

The admission seemed to come unbidden from Jackie's mouth, and she clearly regretted saying it.

"Her dying?"

Jackie's look told Billy he'd hit the nail on the head. It didn't surprise him, the anniversary of her death was coming up, and even he was getting the occasional bad dream.

"You did what you could, and you got the rest of us out of there." Billy's expression softened. "And, if it helps, the rest of us feel guilty too. We all wish we could have done something more, especially after how we treated her before..."

Jackie nodded and took a sip of her no doubt almost freezing milk. That was a start.

Silence descended on the room as Billy tried to work out what else to say. He still couldn't work out why Jackie would come to him, Claire and Sally were better people at talking it over with; he was always too impatient.

He could people forget about their problems, sure...

His eyes lit up, that was it! Jackie didn't want to talk about it, she wanted to forget it, and talking about it or going back to sleep doesn't help with that.

"Hey, I got a racing game the other day. Wanna try it?"

Jackie looked up again and a ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "Yeah, if it's not-."

"Ah, don't worry about it, I think work can live without me for one day."

Jackie's smile widened as Billy went to go set up the game. This was what she needed, a bit of fun to forget.

Morning found the pair in Billy's main room, the controllers by their feet. Billy had fallen asleep, his head tilted back and mouth open as he snored.

Jackie was curled up on the sofa, close but not too close to the Australian. She wasn't quite asleep, but it was calling to her. Her sleepy eyes landed on Billy, she may not have had an older sibling before, but she bet that this is what having a big brother felt like.


	14. Jackie's Room Part One

**Before we start, a big thanks to ImagiTheNation for favourting and following. Since you are the first to do so for this story, you get a cookie! (::)**

Jamie was the one who got house visits from Jack. I think I just found the idea of having Jack in my room a bit too awkward, not that I could probably explain that to the immortal teenager. He didn't see the issue. 

So, after a good few years of pestering I finally caved, and let him come in. 

He came in through the window, because of course he did, and stood on the sill for a good minute, looking at my room. 

My room wasn't like Jamie's, and it wasn't a typical girls room either. Posters of band members and celebrities did not adorn the walls, and pink didn't dare show its face. 

The walls were a navy blue and undecorated. To the right of the window sat a desk and a bookshelf. There were shelves above the desk as well, with various knick knacks I had collected over the years. The desk was also tidy, with textbooks, workbooks and sketchbooks (the latter hidden under piles of the former). A laptop case was propped up against it, but it didn't see much use except for school. 

Beneath the window was a wooden bedside table, with the essentials; an alarm clock, hairbrush, hair bands and some loose change. 

To the left of the window was my bed, the duvet being decorated with my favourite animal, tigers. On the wall next to it was a pinboard, which had a few photos and notes for me to remember. 

Further down on the left side was a chest of drawers made of dark wood, which had a CD player and a small pile of CDs on top of it. 

Finally was the door, which again was plain, only with my pale blue hoodie hanging off the door handle. 

Over the bed and along the floor about the same width as the bedside cabinet was a thick layer of frost. I had a habit of lowering the temperature when I slept, and from what I saw in the Sleeping Quarters in the base, I wasn't the only one. 

It got worse when I had a nightmare, and now the frost was threatening to cover the pin board. I had to remember to clear the board before that happened. 

Jack gave the room a good look before jumping over the bedside table and landing next to my bed, which I was sitting on. 

"It's tidy." Was all he had to say. 

"Yes." I said, sitting cross legged on the bed. "What were you expecting?" 

"I dunno, a bit of mess. Make-up on the floor perhaps?" 

"I don't wear make-up." I said dryly, folding my arms and glancing at my dark green,  
>clean, floor. <p>

"Okay, you really aren't normal." 

"What gave that away? The ice powers?" 

"Oh no, that's normal. But, it's almost too neat in here. Is it always like this?" 

"Yes." 

"Why?" 

I shrugged. "I like things tidy. Also I found that leaving things next to the bed tended to get them frozen. I lost quite a few books doing that." 

"But you've got loads." Said Jack, meandering over to my book shelf. "I haven't even heard of most of these." 

"Your loss." 

"Can I borrow one?" 

"Only if you read it in here. I'm not risking losing them." 

"You don't trust me?" Jack gave me his cocky half smirk over his shoulder. 

"Not with books." 

"Touchy. Okay I'll leave them alone." 

Jack moved on, looking at my CD collection. It wasn't all that extensive, I'd recently gotten a Disney CD, which got me to watch some of the movies again. I tended to like ballad like songs, so that was majority of my collection. Once again, Jack hadn't heard of most of them. 

One CD was still in the player, and out of curiosity he pressed play. The soft beginning notes of "A Hundred Reasons" began to play and I began to sway as I listened. That was one of my favourites. 

Jack however wasn't impressed. 

"That's a little depressing." 

"Sorry that you don't like my taste in music." I replied, but I wasn't too bothered. I'd already had Billy complain about my music taste, he was the one who gave me the Disney CD. 

"Want me to put on the Disney CD?" 

"If you want." 

I watched, trying not to laugh, as Jack tried to work out how to open the CD Player. In his defence it wasn't obvious. After a few minutes I got up and pressed the switch  
>underneath the music player. The lid flicked up, Jack had already stopped the song, and he went a little red. <p>

"I knew that." 

"You're not the first to get confused, and you won't be the last." I assured. I then gave him a nudge. "So how about you put on your choice of music?" 

Jack popped in the CD and selected 'Gospel Truth' from Hercules. I hadn't watched the film, so this song was new to me. 

"Bit more like it." Commented Jack, "But seriously, you need to get some classics in here." 

"Like the Beatles?" 

"Nah, I don't think they're not all that great. Others from that era aren't bad though, you can check them out." 

"Sure I'll only be able to get them on vinyl, and I don't have a record player." 

"You can probably get it online. According to Jamie anyway." 

"I wouldn't know." I wasn't as internet savvy as most of my generation. I always preferred books over computers, call me old fashioned, most did. Tina and Billy get on my case about it occasionally, if they're not ripping each other's throats out. Jamie also despaired, but I think he was starting to accept that I just really like books. 

Jack had lost interest in my music, so as the song changed to 'Go the Distance' he floated up to have a look at the shelf above my desk. He very quickly found a small, fragile, frost covered box near the end of the shelf. 

"What's in there?" He asked, reaching for it. 

"Don't touch that!" I cried, a little louder than I intended. Jack backpedalled in the  
>air, away from the shelf in surprise. <p>

"Wow, sorry. I-I didn't mean..." 

"No, it's okay." 

I walked over and carefully pulled the box down as Jack landed. "It was the last thing my brother gave me. I'm a little protective." 

"Oh, sorry." 

Jack still looked curious, and I decided to relent, not many people knew about this  
>anyway. <p>

Wordlessly I opened the box and turned it around so that the contents faced Jack. 

"Please don't touch it." I said as he leaned closer to look. 

"I won't. I promise." 

I knew he was seeing. He was looking at a paper and string necklace Danny gave me when I hit seven. He'd painstakingly (and messily) painted and strung paper beads on the string. The beads were mostly navy and royal blue, and he'd made a snowflake pendant out of paper, which he'd left plain. 

The whole thing was covered in frost from when I held it after my brother died. I had cried, a lot, and the frost went a bit crazy. 

"It's cute." Said Jack. "How old was he when he made it?" 

"Four." 

"Pretty good for four." 

"He must have worked on it for ages. I never asked..." My voice trailed off and I shut  
>the box as 'Zero to Hero' came on. I hadn't gotten worked up about this in a while, so I was glad for the sudden upbeat song. <p>

"Anyway." I said, putting the box back. "Anything else you want to look at?" 

Jack went back over to my bookshelf and seemed to land on particular book. "Can I read this?" 

I went over and looked at what he'd picked up. It was one of my older books; 'Midnight for Charlie Bone'. 

"That's a good one, but remember what I said." 

"I know I know. I won't leave the room with it." 

True to his word Jack jumped on top of his staff, crouched on it and started reading. 

"Don't you want a seat?" I asked. I knew he found the position comfortable, but it was still odd to see him read like that. 

"No thanks. I'm good." 

"If you're sure..." 

I selected my own book, one of the Harry Potter books, and settled in my desk chair. I curled my feet up underneath me and I heard Jack stifle a laugh. 

"What?" 

"You think I'm uncomfortable sitting like this, but you'll get pins and needles!" 

"As you say, I find it comfortable." 

Jack grinned and shook his head, getting back to his book. 

I don't quite know how long we sat there. I'd picked one of the first three Harry Potter books, so Jack and I were done at about the same time. However, Jack liked Charlie Bone so much he immediately ran to get the next in the series, and there are eight books in that series. 

We didn't stop the music, I personally like having music playing when I read, and Jack didn't seem to mind. 

I looked at my alarm clock and almost panicked when I realised it was about one in the morning. 

"Ah! I gotta go to bed!" 

"Huh?" Jack looked up from his book and looked at my clock. "It's not that late." 

"There's a Branch meeting in the morning and I have to be up for it." I said, gathering up my pyjamas. I came to sudden stop when I realised that Jack was still in the room. We may be related, but I was not getting changed in front of him. 

"I'll, just be in the bathroom." 

"Huh?" Went Jack, but I was already gone. 

I came back about ten minutes later, teeth cleaned to Toothiana's standard, hopefully. 

Jack looked up from his book as I came back in, still crouched on top of his staff, perfectly balanced. 

"Nice pyjamas." 

I think he was just being polite. My pyjamas were royal blue (I really like blue okay) button ups with white dots. Probably not what he was used to, hanging out with Jamie and Sophie. 

"Thanks." I said, trying not to yawn. 

"So, you're going to bed?" 

"No, I got my pyjamas on and brushed my teeth for the heck of it." 

Jack chuckled. "Okay, I was asking for that." He then looked a little nervously between me, the book and the book shelf. 

"You can keep reading, as long as you don't take it out of this room." 

"Won't you want the light off?" 

"I'm okay with it on." Actually having the light on seemed to make the nightmares less frequent, not that I would ever admit that. 

"Alright." Jack seemed unfazed. "Night then, I guess." 

"Night." I murmured, crawling into bed, just remembering to take off my glasses before disappearing into the land of Nod.

**For anyone curious, here is a, sort of, link to 'A Hundred Reasons' /watch?v=cOyELw4Qix4**


	15. Jackie's Room Part Two

A cool, calm night in Burgess.

Jack Frost sat on the side of a building, one leg swinging as he surveyed the town.  
>There'd been no activity from Pitch or his Descendants for over a year, so Jack felt relaxed, sure that nothing was going to happen. <p>

A large yawn took him by surprise, his jaw popping from the sheer size. Okay, he really was relaxed. 

As a spirit he didn't need to sleep, but it didn't mean he couldn't. He usually did it regain energy or just to relax. 

However, he couldn't sleep just yet, there was something he needed to check. He'd already visited Jamie, and he was asleep, and now that it was around midnight he could bet another friend of his was asleep. 

He didn't do this often, just in case she did wake up and saw him, she'd probably kill him if she knew he checked up on her like this. 

He stood up and jumped into the Wind, letting it carry him to a house near the top of the hill. 

He landed on a windowsill that looked down the hill, towards the lake. The room the window led to was of average size and rectangular in shape, with the bed directly underneath the window. 

Jack's toes curled on the sill as he looked at the sleeping face on Jackie, his Descendant. 

The other Guardians didn't really approve of the friendship they had, and he had a feeling the HOG didn't approve either, but neither groups stopped them practicing together. 

He knew he didn't have to be here, Jackie could handle herself easily. He was very impressed with how quickly she was progressing. However, he couldn't help but feel a bit protective, maybe because he saw a bit of himself in here. 

They'd both lost family, they'd both been lonely until they'd been found by people willing to take them in. Jackie was more serious though, calmer and a little more bitter.  
>Slowly, very slowly he was getting her to lighten up, she wasn't the scared, lonely kid anymore. <p>

He saw Jackie stir in her sleep and tensed, ready to fly off if she woke up. 

Instead he leaned forward as she stopped moving, and got a better look at her face. It was twisted with fear and her mouth was moving, mumbling in her sleep. There was no Nightmare Sand, but it was obvious she was obvious Jackie was having a nightmare. 

Jack crouched on the ledge, unsure what to do. Jackie would probably kill him if he woke her up. She was surprisingly proud, and the fact that he felt he needed to intervene would make her really, really angry. 

Finally, his protective big brother instincts kicked in. Or uncle instincts perhaps, given that he was (probably) her many times Great uncle. 

He shook the random thoughts from his head and gently pushed on the window, finding it unlocked. 

He carefully jumped down onto the floor, and saw that the frost on the carpet was already spreading from the effects of the nightmare. 

He approached carefully and shook her shoulder. "Jackie, Jackie wake up." 

The teen didn't seem to register his presence, if anything the nightmare seemed to get worse. 

"Jackie!" 

"...I didn't mean..." 

Jack stopped shaking her shoulder as Jackie mumbled in her sleep. 

"...I didn't mean to. Leave me alone." 

A tear slipped out her eye and promptly froze to her cheek. 

"JACKIE WAKE UP!" Jack was starting to panic now. Why wouldn't she wake up? 

"It's just a dream!" 

Jack's hand drifted off Jackie's shoulder as he saw her face relax, maybe now she was  
>waking up. <p>

Oh no she was waking up. She was going to kill him. 

He started to move when he felt an iron grip on his wrist. He turned to see what was going on, and was met a slightly unfocused gaze. 

"Uh, Jackie?" 

To his surprise Jackie's eyes welled up. "Don't go, please." Her voice was calm and steady, almost completely different from the request she'd just made. 

That was the last thing he expected. 

He hooked the desk chair behind him with his staff and drew it closer, sitting down in it. 

"Thanks." Jackie released Jack's wrist and relaxed slightly underneath her tiger duvet. 

"You okay?" 

"Been better." Jackie's eyes were now properly focused on him now, although he did wonder how well she could see him without her glasses. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

"...No." 

"Okay." Jack was still a little nervous, waiting for Jackie to snap and tell him to get out. 

"What's up with you? You look nervous." 

"Well, um." Jack shifted in the chair. "I'm in your room, and you've just had a nightmare." 

Jackie raised an eyebrow. "I'm swallowing my pride." She admitted, "But I will kill you if you mention this to anyone." 

"Gotcha." 

Jack leaned back in the chair and just looked at Jackie. Now that she was going back to sleep she looked more at peace than she had been in a while. Even when she was kid. 

Yeah, Jack had seen her as a kid, often tried to get the quiet girl to join in with the snowball fights, but failed every time. It had frustrated him more than he liked to admit, and just like any other kid at the time, she couldn't see him. 

When he found out about Descendants he wondered if that was why his snowballs never worked. As his Descendant maybe she was resistant to it. Or was it because she had been mourning her brother? 

Jack had never seen the incident, and had never asked since the night they met. He didn't want to drag up any memories. 

"...Jack?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Thanks." Jackie mumbled, sleep clearly overtaking her. 

"What for?" 

"Not leaving." 

This was so sappy Jack thought that he might have been dreaming. There was no way Jackie would something like that in a normal state of mind. 

"You're welcome." Jack said once he got over the shock, but he could see that Jackie was already asleep. 

He tapped his staff on the floor, unsure what to do now. He should just let her sleep, but what if she had another nightmare? What if she woke up and found that he'd disappeared when she had asked him to stay there. 

The odd request was enough to make him stay put. 

He spun in the chair out of boredom, then sprung out of it to look around. He'd been in here once before and didn't get a proper look, having had Jackie's eagle eyes on him the whole time. 

He floated up to see the shelves above her desk, seeing some droopy looking soft toys. He had to smile, Jackie had been a kid at one point after all! There were some teddy bears and a polar bear among them. Moving along the shelf was like looking at a timeline, first were the cuddly toys, then a few short books; Mr Majeika, Magic Key, those kind of books. 

Next were clear plastic and later down the line glass animal figures. 

Jack stifled a laugh; he never had Jackie down as a figurine collector! 

Right at the end of the shelf was a small cardboard box, and Jack didn't have a look in there. He knew what was in there, and he didn't need to see it again. It had been the second time he'd seen Jackie so close to tears. 

He landed and had a flick through Jackie's school books. This was something Jack could not understand, most people hated school and homework, while Jackie seemed to love it. According to Jamie Jackie often finished homework early and asked for more! 

Jack wasn't sure whether that was true or not, but he wouldn't put it past her. 

Jack frowned as at the bottom of the pile of work and text books, was a collection of sketchbooks. Along with a set of drawing pencils and colouring pencils. Just having a look at the length he could see that they were used often. 

Finally he couldn't contain his curiosity and he opened up some of them and had a good look. 

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he was blown away by what he saw. Detailed drawings and sketches of landscapes, people and animals. Spiralling towers from imagined cities and great dragons also adorned the pages. 

Having lived for three hundred years, he'd seen in some ways better artists, but for seventeen these were really good. She could go far with skill like this. 

He kept on flicking through until he came across that took him by surprise. 

It was far back in the book, so a fairly recent drawing, and it showed Jack and Jamie having a snowball fight. 

It was simple sketch, and there was no title, but Jack felt an odd little feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite place. Jackie, someone who tended to be quite cold and apparently not all that sentimental, had a drawing of him and Jamie. 

He doubted that this was drawn while it was happening, he'd never seen Jackie draw, so it must have been from memory. 

He turned around to look at the now sleeping Jackie, and smiled. She was looked so innocent when she was asleep. 

"Still full of surprises." He muttered, putting the sketchbooks back carefully where he'd found them. 

He swung his staff over his shoulder and floated up to look at the photos on the pin board. It hadn't yet been taken over by the frost, but it was starting to lose the fight around the edges. 

There was a family photo, probably on holiday somewhere cold in the summer. It was clearly when Jackie was still the bitter loner, but she did manage to put on a smile for the photo. The photo itself was a sign of her powers, there was snow everywhere and her parents were bundled up, meanwhile Jackie was in her usual jeans and raincoat, not even wearing a pair of gloves. 

Jack shook his head and chuckled to himself, looking at the sleeping Jackie. "You were a wreck back then." 

Shaking his head again he turned back to the pin board. 

There was a photo of a gap toothed kid Jackie, probably not long before Daniel's death, sitting in front of a birthday cake. Jackie couldn't handle fire, or the heat of summer, and this photo showed how she managed to deal with it. 

The smiling Jackie was wrapped in a blanket that was coated in frost, and the candles weren't real, they were made of icing. 

"Tooth would kill you, but that's clever." Jack chuckled. 

The third and final photo was of the entire Burgess Branch, standing in what looked like a snowy Central Park. 

All of the members that weren't Jackie were well dressed for the weather; woolly hats, thick gloves, ear muffs, gloves, everything. Meanwhile Jackie was in a slightly too big pale blue hoodie and jeans. 

The Australian one, Billy, was right in the middle, with the blonde woman and the dark haired woman on one side, and Nigel and Jackie on the other. The blonde woman and Jackie were on the outside and everyone was wearing smiles. Jackie's was probably the most unsure as her eyes had drifted over to Billy, probably wondering what he was doing. 

Finally, out of sheer curiosity, he dropped down beside Jackie's bed and had a look through her glasses. 

"What the-? How does she see through these? She must be practically blind!" 

Now having looked at all the things he hadn't looked at before, he decided to go back to the series he'd been reading when he was last here. 

Jack ran over to the bookcase and plucked out the fourth book in the series. He perched on top of his staff and began reading. 

After a while Jack remembered how tired he'd been and even his eyes began to blur. 

Jack found a bookmark in the back of the book and marked his place, yawning. He placed it on the desk and looked at the window, wondering whether or not he could be bothered to jump out of it. Then he remembered what Jackie asked him. 

He scanned the room for somewhere vaguely comfy to sleep, excluding the bed. That would just be weird. 

He ended up settling on the desk chair, and with his arms and legs curled around his staff like a teddy bear, he fell asleep. 

Several hours later, well after dawn, Jackie drifted awake. 

It was about ten minutes before her alarm was due to go off, so she didn't have to get out of bed just yet. 

Her drowsy eyes wandered around the room, before landing on the blurry figure of a sleeping Jack Frost. Sleeping in her desk chair no less. 

At first Jackie was confused, and a little annoyed. When did he get here? Why he was in her room without asking her first? 

Then it came back to her. The nightmare, Jack waking her up, Jackie asking him to stay. 

Jackie burrowed back under the covers in embarrassment. What had she been thinking? She'd been adamant that her nightmares weren't an issue, and there she had been, asking Jack Frost not to go because he had chased the nightmare away. 

_If he mentions this to anyone I will kill him._

**Jackie: ... HOLLY!**

**Uh oh, gotta run guys. It seems I have an enraged ice moved on my tail. One more one shot to go- AAAAHHHHH!**

**Jackie: How did you even find out about that?! Get back here!**

**Me: Help! I don't think my sand's going to be enough for this!**


	16. The Subject of Normality

**Okay, I think I'm safe. Jackie seems to have given up for now, although I wonder how long that will last once this one is up.**

**This will be the last one shot between the first and second arc though, so that means 'Howling Shadows' starts tomorrow! Hope to see you there!**

**And for reference, since I know this one shot starts a little ambiguously, this is from Nigel's point of view.**

The older man watched as the other members of the group sparred each other. None of them were using weapons, this was completely hand to hand, no weapons and no powers.

It takes many years to perfect something like this, but Billy and Nigel had both agreed that at least some idea in this was important.

It is more tiring than using powers, for those who had them such as Jackie and Sally, but for Tina and Billy it was slightly easier.

Nigel's gaze focused on the youngest member of group and frowned. Something was wrong.

Physically Jackie was fine, and working hard, but she almost working _too_ hard. She was sparring against Billy, and was managing to push the hyperactive fighter harder than ever.

That wasn't easy to. Billy came from one of the few lines where all of them were aware of their heritage, and as a result all of them are trained to fight once they could walk. Jackie being able to put Billy through his paces wasn't impossible, but very impressive.

Nigel wasn't one to pry; if someone wanted to talk to him about a problem, he let them come to him, but this time he felt that he couldn't let this one slide. If she kept this up then she'll either hurt herself or someone else.

"Okay, that's enough for today!" Nigel called and everyone came to stop, doubled over and panting heavily.

"Get some water and stretch off, then we'll call it a day."

Nigel watched Jackie as she went to get some water, frowning the plastic began to freeze.

She was seventeen now, and her powers were under control better than ever, something must be bothering her.

The fact that it was summer probably had little to do with it, they'd had Jackie's birthday celebration the week before, and she'd seemed happy enough then.

Nigel was a sharp individual, not much made it past him, and he knew full well the issues that had plagued Jackie in the past. Her brother, lack of control, Penelope, bullying. He also recognised that Jackie sometimes acted older than she was, she'd been opening up, acting more her age, and in many cases younger, but there times where her pain showed.

She was afraid, afraid of truly letting them in, and Nigel didn't blame her. They'd blown into her life during a low point of her life, and hadn't really helped, almost succeeding in driving her away for good. Yes they'd been through thick and thin for each other, but there was another point. Jackie had no experience with having friends, so even now she had no idea how to act.

Nigel doubted the large age gap helped either. The closest to Jackie in age was Billy, and that was a good eleven years age difference.

Jackie was a loner, and Nigel respected that, but sometimes the girl needed a bit of prompting.

As the others were just leaving Nigel approached the teen.

"Jackie?"

"Hmmm?" Jackie pushed the cap of her sports bottle down.

"Is something the matter?"

"Nope, everything's fine. Why do you ask?"

"You were working Billy pretty hard today, I get the feeling he hasn't been worked like that for a while."

Jackie gave a quick grin.

"So, were you just feeling on fire today, pun not intended." He added quickly, "Or has something been bothering you?"

"No, everything's fine." Jackie said calmly.

"Okay, but if you find that it isn't, you can always pop over to mine for a chat."

"I'll bear that in mind, thanks."

Jackie pulled her hoodie over her head and put the water bottle in the pocket, before turning to the door. She let out a sigh and walked towards it, and Nigel understood why. It was a warm 20 degrees Celsius, which was scorching temperatures for Jackie, she wore the hoodie to hide the cooling layer of frost she put up.

"Want a lift?"

Jackie's face visibly lit up at the prospect of sitting in a cool car instead walking home in the heat.

"Are sure that's okay?"

"Of course! I wouldn't offer if it wasn't."

"Makes sense."

The pair went out of the maze of corridors and into the sun, where Jackie practically flinched at the heat.

"I hate to see what you're like in a heatwave."

"You wouldn't see me, at all." Replied Jackie grumpily. "I'd be hiding in my room with the curtains closed, sitting in a bunch of ice cubes."

Nigel chuckled, "I can picture it now."

"I've done it before."

"Really?"

One look at Jackie's face told him he'd just had a very mild prank played.

"I wish! Parents won't let me, and on a hot day the last thing I want to do is form a massive thing of ice."

Jackie got in the front seat of Nigel's little car while Nigel got into the driver's seat.

"Ever thought about learning to drive?" Asked Nigel as they pulled out into the road.

"No, I prefer using ice, not restricted by roads and kills fewer people."

"And is better for the environment." Commented Nigel, seeing Jackie's point.

"And is free, no purchase or insurance necessary."

Nigel let out a laugh as the air con blasted out cold. Nigel was very quickly shivering from the sudden lowering temperature, but Jackie practically lay back on the seat and basked in it.

Almost as if she could sense him shivering Jackie suddenly looked concerned.

"You don't have to have it that low if it you don't want to."

"I'm just fine Jackie, it's easier for me to put up with this than for you to put up with the heat."

"...Thank you."

"You're welcome." Nigel recognised the slight resistance to say it, Jackie still had her pride.

The sat in silence as the car powered along, going up the hill to Jackie's home.

"How's training going with Jack?"

"Going well, working on psychic ice a lot, although he doesn't use it himself, prefers his staff."

"Interesting. Are he and Jamie still friends?"

Jackie's face frowned for a moment at the mention of Jamie, but it quickly passed.

"Every now and again. I think Jack still knocks on Jamie's window rather than Jamie going to the lake."

Nigel hadn't missed the look that Jackie had for a moment, but decided not to press.

"...What would your definition of normal be?"

"Normal?" Nigel thought for a moment.

"Personally, I don't believe that normality exists."

"Huh?"

"Sure there's the biological normal, but if you're talking personalities, then there's no such thing as normal, because everyone is different."

"Hmmm." Jackie leaned back in the car seat. "I've never thought of it like that."

Nigel chuckled. "See, I may have my nose buried in gadgets, but I know a few things about people."

"I never saw you as the unsociable type."

"Oh, you should have seen me in school, stereotypical geek, big glasses, braces and all."

Jackie looked over and looked the large framed man up and down.

"I can't see it."

"I suppose I should be glad of that." Said Nigel with a smile in his voice. "Although, what brought such a question on?"

Jackie looked at her lap, fiddling with her fingers.

"Jamie asked me for advice about girls earlier today."

"Okay." That didn't surprise Nigel, it was the logical decision, Jackie was older than Jamie, so in theory had more experience with that kind of thing.

"And I couldn't give him any, I have no idea what other girls my age are like, which got me thinking, that I'm not normal..."

"Well, who would to be 'normal'?"

"What kind of a question is that?"

"Think about it, do you really want to be the same as normal girls? Gossiping in the toilets and not paying attention in lessons?"

"Well, no, they're idiots."

"Exactly, and you're not, but as I said, there is no such thing as normal."

"Yeah, but you're not the one who freezes water the instant they touch it." Jackie was sounding a bit bitter now.

"True, but what you have is special. How many kids have read or watched the X-Men and wished they had those kinds of powers?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Jackie's face.

"And if you're desperate to be normal, haven't you already found it? With HOG your powers are normal."

"I suppose."

"But in the end, as someone I used to know said, 'normal people are boring, why would you want to be normal?'"

"Hmmm."

Nigel glanced at Jackie, seeing her mixed wistful and annoyed expression.

"Ah, you're jealous, aren't you?"

"Jealous?" Jackie seemed honestly confused, and for a moment so was Nigel, he could have sworn that was the issue. Nevertheless he pressed on.

"You like Jamie."

Jackie frowned for a second, then her face went bright red when she got what he was implying.

"OH! No no no no no no, just, no! He's my friend!"

"Many romances start off as friendships."

Jackie's face went an even deeper red and sank into the seat, pulling her hood down over her face.

"I hate you."

"Sure you do." Said Nigel, grinning despite himself. It wasn't fair to Jackie, but it was a little too easy to wind her up.

Nigel pulled up outside the gate to Jackie's house.

"Thanks for the lift." Said Jackie, unbuckling the seatbelt as quickly as possible, her face still as red as a tomato.

"You're welcome. See you next week."

"See you then."

She slammed the door shut and stalked back up the path her shoulders hunched in embarrassment as Nigel drove back to his house.


	17. Descendants of North Information

**Uh oh, looks like this one got missed out in the mass upload, which is strangely ironic, because North is one of my least favourite Guardians. I don't dislike him, but if I had to make a favourites list, I'm afraid North won't be very high.**

**Also, while I'm at it, a big thanks to PixanaWillow for following and favouriting!**

Signature colour-red

Signature weapon-sword

Symbol-long sword

The Descendants of North are the hardest to identify as their abilities are more subtle.

All of them have a great mind for inventing and building, and due to their ancestor being taught by Ombric, a magician from Atlantis, they also have a connection to magic. The strength of the connection varies from Descendant to Descendant, some to the point where they could be considered magicians in their own right. This is extremely rare however, having had less than a handful recorded. HOG has spell books in their collection to help the Descendants of North reach their full potential with their magic. These books are written in Altantian however, and Descendants of North are expected to learn it in order to learn any kind of magic.

A lot have careers as inventors, blacksmiths, engineers, carpenters any profession that involves tinkering or building. This includes computers after their rise in popularity, so there are few computer builders, programmers and even hackers among the Descendants of North.

All have a talent in swordplay and some are excellent with horses.

All have dark hair when they are young, but it goes white as they get older. Most also have blue eyes, making them look similar in appearance to the Descendants of Jack Frost when they are young.

It is unknown where North's line came from, as he wasn't raised by his biological family, so finding them to found the Human Order of Guardians wasn't the easiest thing in the world. It was helped by North having a Russian accent, so they began their search in that part of the world.

They have no geographic preference.


	18. Christmas Eve

**Time to get on the Christmas cheer bandwagon!**

**A thanks to AriArlene and Good fan for following and favouriting.**

**And to anyone reading, A Merry Christmas to you, whether or not you celebrate it. My sentiment is the same.**

I shot up from my sleep, scream dying in my throat as I scanned my surroundings. I was in my bedroom, not underground, I wasn't going to die.

I groaned and put my head in my hands, the images from _that_ night ran through my head like a silent film.

Well, most of it. I still couldn't remember what happened after I started to lose control, and I was happy for it stay that way.

_Calm. Breathe. You're safe. Everyone is safe._ I recited in my head, the Descendant of Toothiana I'd been seeing for nearly a year now had given me some phrases to remember to try and calm me down after a nightmare. So far those were the ones that worked the best.

As I let the phrase repeat itself there was a sudden soft thump from the roof.

My nerves were shot so I jumped out of my skin, my eyes shooting to the ceiling above me. Who the hell was on the roof?

My mind jumped to horrific scenarios. Maybe the Descendants of Pitch had thawed out, what if I hadn't got all of them?

I jumped out of my bed, blades forming as I went to the window. I opened it as the thumping stopped, and felt a chill in my blood as there was a new noise. From downstairs!

I left the window open as I went as quickly and as quietly as I could downstairs, passing my new hoodie which was hanging on the door. That did give my mind a bit of nudge, that maybe I'd overlooked something, but I ignored it as I crept downstairs.

I moved to the living room, where the sounds seemed to be coming from. Oddly it didn't sound like people coming to attack, just one guy, moving around.

I peeked around the door and saw North's back to me as he put some presents under the Christmas tree.

I stood there, confused for a second, then my stupidity hit me with force of a train. It was Christmas Eve! How did I forget? I got a present from Jack earlier that day and gave him one, I had been really nervous about it!

Wow, amazing how a nightmare could make you lose track of what day it was.

I made to move away from the door when something occurred to me. I was fifteen, and the youngest in the house. While I wasn't an adult I certainly wasn't a child, so what was North doing here?

I leaned back around the door, and North wasn't there anymore.

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes tiredly. Of course he wouldn't hang around, he had a very busy night ahead of him.

Making a note to bring it up with Jack next time I saw him I yawned and went back to bed. The chances of me getting two nightmares twice in the same night were small once I'd distracted myself, so I should be fine.

"Jackie! Wake up!"

I groaned and rolled over in my bed, I'd just had a good dream for once, and the knocking on the door had almost completely ruined it.

"Five minutes." I mumbled.

"No, now. You're aunt and uncle are coming over later, and I want to some nice family time before my sister comes in to spoil it."

Yeah, it was no secret my mom didn't like her sister. I assume it goes back quite some time, and while I find my aunt aloof and a little rude at times, I didn't not like her.

However, I knew better than to antagonise my mom about it. Or let my aunt see me in my pyjamas. It made my ears ring remembering the one time she had seen me come down in my pyjamas.

"Okay, I'm coming." I said, rolling out of bed.

Ten minutes later I was dressed and in the living room, opening presents with my parents.

There were a few more presents under the tree than this time yesterday morning, and I let myself smile at that. I hadn't imagined last night then.

I opened the presents from my parents, and I got a few new books that I'd asked for. After going through the hugs and thank you's I moved onto the other presents, feeling the old, child like Christmas glee bubble up in my stomach.

The first one was rectangular shaped, and way too big to be a book. As I unwrapped it a photo frame was revealed. It was pale blue and decorated with silver, painted snowflakes around the border.

I smiled and put it to one side as I moved on to the next one, which was also the last one for me.

It was also rectangular, but definitely not a book, it was too small. Underneath the wrapping paper was a small, navy blue box, which opened like a jewellery box. And inside that was a snowflake made of ice, about the size of my palm, nestled in white cotton wool.

I carefully pulled it out, looking at it from all angles. It was delicately done, clearly by someone who had practice. There was a small loop of silver from the top of one of the branches, and I frowned as I looked at it, was it supposed to hang on a Christmas tree.

I carefully placed the snowflake back in the box and started to tidy the wrapping paper away, when an envelope I hadn't noticed before fell out. Frowning with confusion I set the wrapping paper down and picked up the envelope.

The envelope seemed to be made of heavy parchment, and in clear cursive on the front, was my name.

I flipped it over and carefully opened it, pulling out the lighter parchment paper within it.

"Jackie" It read

"This probably comes as a surprise to you. You are not a child and yet I have left you gifts!

There are several reasons. I think Jack has gotten a little protective you, an odd notion for an immortal to their Descendant. He's made it very clear that you are on the Nice list after your actions in the past year.

The other, is that this is a form of apology. An apology from the Guardians to a child they should have helped, Descendant or not. Your light went out too soon, and while we cannot change past, we can apologise for not trying to reignite it.

Have a Merry Christmas my friend.

Nicolas St North

P.S.

If you are curious, I made the snowflake, Jack made sure it wouldn't melt."

I wasn't quite sure what I felt on reading that. Yeah, it was a nice gesture, and he didn't have to do that. It was still a little odd.

"Thanks North." I muttered, putting the letter on top of the photo frame. I took the snowflake carefully from its box and hung it on the tree, the lights blinking and refracting their light through it.

**Hello another story where I can't tell if it's heart warming, weird or cheesy. I have a genuine hard time telling the difference between them.**

**For reference, this takes place in the same year as 'Hoodie'**


	19. Engagement and Proposal Traditions

**This more or less occurred to me while I was away, some of the Descendant groups have been around for centuries, perhaps millennia in some cases. Therefore, I figured they'd have their own traditions for certain things, such as weddings/engagement. So this is a compilation of these for the main five groups you see in the main Human Order of Guardians series, I will make new chapters for others, such as the Book Guardians and any fan made spirits if anyone wants me too.**

**I also made this its own chapter because I wasn't sure whether it really fit with the general Descendant Information, although if anyone wants me to write about their spirit OC Descendants, then this information will included in that.**

**One last thing, minor spoiler ahead for the third arc. Very minor, and you'd have to read the third arc to understand it, and I haven't even started posting that on this website! Yet.**

Wedding or Engagement traditions, in order of when the Descendant group joined the Human Order of Guardians.

Descendants of Bunnymund- Present partner or fiancé with a flower, preferably one that they have produced or made from rock. If they do not possess geo or flora kinesis, then a flower is usually grown in advance.

Descendants of Toothiana- A feather is presented to the partner or fiancé, preferably the Descendant's own. This tradition is struggling in the 21st Century as few Descendants of Toothiana possess feathered wings; it is now acceptable to present any brightly coloured feather.

Descendants of Sandman- Partner or fiancé is presented with an item made of tightly packed Dream Sand. What the item is does not matter; although it is preferred that it has personal significance. The item should not disintegrate.

Descendants of North- They did not have the time to come up with such a tradition, as they were accepted into the Order almost as soon as they began to appear. So not to be left out, they came up with one. Their potential partner is to be presented with something small that they built. As with the Descendants of Sandman, almost anything will be acceptable, but preferably the item will have personal significance.

Descendants of Jack Frost-According to what are being referred to as the 'Bergland Books', it is tradition for Descendants of Frost, (at least in the Bergland family) to present their partner or fiancé with a snowflake to wear and it should not melt. This tradition is being accepted by all Descendants of Frost, because it is the only tradition they can draw upon.

Originally some of these were designed for the partner to wear all the time, but in the 21st Century HOG wishes to remain hidden, so they don't have to be worn or kept on the partner's person at all times, like a wedding ring. However it is expected that the items are kept safe for as long as the two are together.


	20. Halloween

**For reference, this takes place between Chapter 15 and Chapter 16 of Howling Shadows.**

I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to this or not.

On one hand, it would be a laugh, I hadn't dressed up for years, and I needed to get my mind out of recent events. 

On the other, Halloween often had fire in some shape or form. Either the candles in the pumpkins or in some cases open braziers. Which was not something I needed. 

I double checked my costume, smiling beneath the hooded sheet. This was great, I looked decently scary and you'd have to check underneath the hood to tell how it was, so anyone my age who wants to give me grief about dressing up would have to go out of their way to check. 

The icicles I'd formed on the edge of the sheet clattered as I walked away from the mirror. My room was covered in more frost than usual, as I'd had to lower the temperature quite a bit to get the costume stable. Once I was outside it should be okay, but I'd have to keep an eye on it, it wouldn't do have the 'plastic icicles' melt while I was walking across town. 

"Jackie! Jamie's here!" Called my mum up the stairs. I straightened up, adjusting the sheet so that it hung over my face. Of course I wasn't doing this alone. 

Most of Jamie's friends were still doing it, but the likes of the twins had given up, declaring it 'stupid'. Unfortunately those from the high school didn't see things the same way, with some of the girls dressed rather scantily. 

I collected my candy bag and went downstairs, trying not to trip over the sheet.  
>Jamie was at the door with Sophie. The thirteen year old was dressed up as Jack of course, and this year his mum had finally allowed him to dye his hair white. The six year old was dressed as a fairy, because as with most six year old girls, she loved fairies. Her obverse meeting with the Tooth Fairy hadn't put her off. <p>

"Wow. What are you going as?" asked Jamie, looking me up and down. 

"I'm an ice wraith." I said, looking down at my ice and frost covered sheet and old fashioned clothes. "Can't you tell?" 

I shot a grin at Jamie and he grinned back. 

"It looks awesome! Come on, or all the good candy will be gone!"

"Okay okay I'm coming." I let myself be dragged out by Sophie, who was chanting "candy" repeatedly. 

"Have fun!" Called my mum, who I could tell was struggling not to laugh. Five years ago  
>I'd never have let myself be dragged anywhere, let alone by a six year old! <p>

I sent her a look over my shoulder, before grinning and walking off to meet Pippa, Monty and Cupcake. 

The trio had similar reactions to my costume, and I guess I could see why. Pippa was dressed up as a character I guess Billy would be able to recognise, she was in a green tunic, white leggings, brown boots and a floppy green hat. The costume was completed with a foam sword and a blue shield. 

Finally Monty was in a full Spiderman costume and Cupcake was in a horse and jockey costume. 

"Let's go get some candy!" Cried Jamie, ever the enthusiast with his fist and staff in the air. 

Monty nodded, "I've already gotten the best houses highlighted on my map." 

I forgot how kids could turn a Halloween foray into an army operation. 

"Got it all organised then Colonel Spidey?" I asked, more than a hint of a joke in my voice. 

"Indeed Major Icey." 

"Major?" I asked with mock affront, "I should be a Brigadier at least!" 

"You have less experience in the world of Halloween forays." Replied Jamie with mock seriousness. "Be lucky that you're not a Private." 

"How dare you! I should be a Veteran!" I said, pulling up to my full height. 

"You admitted that you haven't gone trick or treating since you were seven." Pippa reminded me. "You're nineteen now." 

"It's only your age that's stopping you being a Private." Finished Monty and Cupcake rolled her eyes. 

"Are you seriously arguing about military ranks on Halloween?" 

Monty became flustered and pulled out a map of Burgess from his candy bag. I raised my eyebrows as he unfurled it, with a proposed route in red. 

"You've put a lot of thought into this." I commented, no hint of a joke this time. 

"Of course! Getting candy is serious business!" 

Jamie finished scanning the map and walked ahead down the route. 

"Alright troops. This way! Forward March!" Jamie cried, using the staff like a baton. 

"Aye sir!" went Monty, Pippa and Sophie enthusiastically. Cupcake rolled her eyes but said the words anyway. 

I smiled underneath my hood and followed after them, doing my adult duty to keep an eye on them. 

The proposal of free candy didn't hurt either. 

I have to hand to it him, Monty knew how to plan. 

Within half an hour we'd made it through most of the houses on his list via his route.  
>The house owners had done double takes when they saw me with the kids, and the gossip mongerer, otherwise known as Jamie's grandmother, Mrs Pierce practically lit up when she saw me with Jamie. She even gave us extra candy, and I dread to think why. <p>

"So, how many more have we got Colonel Spidey?" 

"Around three Captain Icey." 

Oh yes, I'd also been downgraded to Captain after I'd tripped over my sheet. Such behaviour was not befitting of a Major apparently. 

"Then what are we waiting for!" Cried Jamie, his staff above his head. "Charge!" 

"With all due respect, we may freak them out if you charge. We may rob ourselves of potential candy." 

Jamie gave me a pointed look and I reluctantly added. "Sir." 

I got enough of that with HOG. I guess I should be glad that he wasn't getting me to  
>salute. <p>

Jamie looked me up and down. "Sound advice, promoted." 

"Yes." I gave a quick fist pump before going back to normal standing position. 

"Will you lot stop that?!" Cried Cupcake, coming to a halt and folding her arms. 

Pippa, Monty, Jamie and I looked at each other and said at roughly the same time.  
>"Demoted." <p>

"To Private!" chipped in Sophie, who was very keen to have someone ranked below her. 

"Hold on, Cupcake can't be Private." Said Monty. 

"Why?" asked Jamie, staff over his back in a very Jack-like manner. 

"She's in the Cavalry." 

"THAT'S IT!" 

Cupcake charged towards us and we scattered, laughing. Cupcake may have a rough attitude, but she'd never actually go after anyone of us. I think she was worried that me or Jack would ice her or something. 

We ended up making our way towards the next house while being chased by an irate Cupcake, but her yells quickly turned into laughs as the chase went on. 

Then the house came into view. 

It was very well decorated, Jack O'Lanterns plastered through the windows and the gate was decorated to look like the entrance to a wizard's lair. It was ajar, so presumably the kids would go in, take the candy and leave. 

Except the sides of the gate were decorated with real flaming braziers. 

I stopped halfway up, my heart rate went up and my breathing began to quicken. 

I knew I shouldn't be freaking out. They couldn't hurt me and I couldn't even feel the heat from here, but that didn't seem to register in my mind. 

Jamie realised that I'd stopped and also stopped, looking back at me. 

"Jackie?" 

His voice seemed to come from the far end of a tunnel. 

"Y-yeah?" My voice didn't sound much better, almost echoey. 

The others stopped as well, having realised that something was up. 

"What's up Major?" Asked Monty, trying to get me to respond. 

"Y-you guys g-go ahead. I-I'll j-just b-b-be d-down h-here." I said, backing down the hill. 

"Jackie? What's wrong?" Jamie started coming down towards me, and I backed off slightly. 

"I-I'll j-just b-be o-over t-t-there." I was starting to hear crackling and frost was starting to spread across my hands. That hadn't happened since... 

Since the flamethrowers. 

That admission was what sent the ball rolling down the hill, and I went with it.

I think I ran, I wasn't sure. 

One minute I was in the hill, and after a few flame filled minutes I was by the lake. 

I calmed down a bit and sat by the shore, breathing heavily. The lake was already starting to freeze, and my freaked presence lowered the temperature to the point where more ice was starting to form on the lake. 

"Come on Davies. Get a grip." I said to myself, putting my head in my hands. I could feel  
>the coarse hair of my wig underneath my frosted knuckles and the ends of the fake hair also frosted. <p>

I was only then I realised I was shaking, and I just couldn't believe it. Every Descendant of Frost is wary, if not afraid of fire. Of course we are, we're more sensitive to heat than most, and not much gets hotter than fire. 

So why had the flamethrowers affected me like this? It's not as if it's the first time I've come across fire. 

_It almost killed you._ That was the answer. 

Alfred had said it, those Descendants of Pitch hadn't been trying to capture me, they were actively trying to kill me in the safest way they could think of. That's what it was, unlike any other time I'd come across fire, I'd almost died. 

Not too subtle footsteps sent me up to my feet, my blades itching to form. It could be anyone out here. Some kid who's gotten lost, someone going for an evening stroll, anything. 

"Jackie!" 

Or a concerned thirteen year old friend. 

"Where are you? What happened back there?" 

I wasn't sure if I could tell him. He knew I had issues after what happened four years ago and he probably thought I was barking mad, this wouldn't help. 

But he was my friend, he would be worried, right? 

Obviously he was worried, he was out in the woods looking for me for God's sake! 

Before I could call out to him to let him know where I was, Jamie appeared almost directly in front of me. 

His face lit up with relief. "Jackie!" 

"Hey." 

"What was that about earlier?" He asked, coming in closer. 

"I..." I couldn't say it. I wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or the fact I just didn't want to say it out loud. 

"Jackie?" 

I looked down and saw that my legs were still shaking. At that point they decided to collapse and I went to the ground, landing with a heavy crunch. 

"Jackie!" 

"...I'm fine." 

"No you're not!" Jamie crouched down beside me. 

"What happened back there?" 

I looked down at my feet, not sure if I could say it. 

"You know it helps if you talk about it." 

"...Goddamn it Brigadier." 

Jamie laughed and sat down in the snow. 

"Aren't you going to get cold?" I asked, looking down at the patch of snow he was sitting on. 

"I hang around with you and Jack. I've gotten used to it." He replied, "and you're changing the subject." 

"You're Detective Inspector, not Brigadier." 

"Jackie..." 

I sighed and pulled off my sheet to get some air, brushing the wig hair out of my face. 

"I never told you what happened when I disappeared, did I?" 

Jamie shook his head. "No, you didn't." 

I looked at the lake, where the ice was halting. 

"I got tracked by the Descendants of Pitch until Canada. The first time I came across them it was three of them in a petrol station. I took them out and went on my way." 

"What about the next time?" Jamie prompted, clearly seeing that I was reluctant to continue. 

"I was bedding down for the day. I was travelling at night, when I noticed something." I frowned, trying to remember. 

"I'm not even sure what it was, but it freaked me out, so I packed up again to move, when I discovered that I was surrounded." 

I shook my head, wanting to dislodge the images that were all too fresh in my mind. 

"There were too many to count, and they had Nightmares. I couldn't fight them, so all I could hope to do was to hold them off and get out of there. I managed to pin them with ice and made to leave, when..." 

I didn't want to say it, but Jamie was there, waiting for me to tell him. He didn't say anything, he didn't have to. 

"Four of them appeared, two in front of me, two behind me. They had... They had..." 

"What?" I had a feeling he could guess, but he let me continue. 

"Flamethrowers." 

Jamie sucked in air through his nose, I don't think that was what he expected. 

"And they set them off?" 

I nodded and my hands began to shake. 

"It was so hot, it hurt so much..." 

I was crying, I could feel the liquid going down my face and my throat burning. The tears quickly froze to my cheeks. 

I bought my knees into my chest. 

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be freaking out. I just..." 

To my surprise Jamie didn't say anything, instead he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.  
>It was a little colder than I expected, but still uncomfortably warm. I did my best not to flinch at it, for Jamie's sake. <p>

"It's better you got it out, otherwise we'd have another Daniel." He said after a while, and I nodded, cringing slightly at the memory. 

"I was an utter wreck that night." 

"Yeah, but you had had a rough night." 

"You were the one who got hurt!" I protested. 

"I wasn't the one who ran off into the woods." Jamie countered calmly. 

"Yeah yeah." 

We sat in companionable silence as I composed myself. I had forgotten how much just having someone there helped, I was too used to trying to deal with this alone, even now. 

"Thanks." I said after a bit. 

"No problem." 

Jamie then got to his feet, brushing the snow off his trousers. 

"Come on, the others are going to wonder where we are. They'll be at the next house." 

"Okay." I said, also getting up and pulling the sheet back over my head. 

Jamie nudged me in the ribs. "Eat some of your candy, it'll make you feel better." 

"Yes Doctor Bennett." I said a little sarcastically, which got a smile from Jamie. 

I pulled out a random bit of candy and ate it was we walked. Once I'd swallowed I said the first thing that came to mind. 

"Let's hope Toothiana doesn't find out. She'd probably kill me." 

We were laughing out of the woods, demons banished for now.


End file.
